First thing’s first: NASA does NOT get a quarter from every dollar. A quarter would be 25% of the entire Federal Budget. Math isn’t hard.
That does get attention though doesn’t it? Seems there is a misconception on how much money NASA actually gets. I’m sure that if anyone reads this they have the intellect enough to google “NASA federal budget” and find out how much NASA really gets. The answer just might shock most people.
I’ve known for years how much money NASA gets and it’s paltry. Bad Astronomy has inspired me to blog about it myself. Sure he gets more readers but in the name of science, every voice must be heard! Also, I’m going to mooch some of the content of his blog. Why invent the wheel twice?
This article talks about the perception of NASA and what it does, among other things. The stunning part was where respondents were asked how much money NASA got. 24% was the number. That would be 3% more than Defense. This was in 2007.
So how much money does NASA get? In 2007, 0.58% of the Federal Budget. A little more than half a penny per dollar. That’s pretty sad, eh? We’re talking about an organization that put men on the Moon. They put up a telescope that was a dud and then fixed it: in space. They’ve done most of the heavy lifting in construction of the International Space Station. They’ve sent probes all over the Solar System to study the planets. Two rovers are still on Mars performing science well beyond their planned mission time.
I haven’t even scratched the surface. That’s the stuff we hear about somewhat regularly but let it go, in passing.
Given that they can do so much with so little, I would be amazed to see what they could do if given a little more. Keep in mind that at NASA there is still wasteful spending. It’s a government organization, duh. Even with that, they’re able to do such amazing things. Not bad for being so low on the totem pole.
If you ever wonder why we haven’t done more or gone further in space, then wonder no more. Shun the non-believers, shuuuuuunnnnnnn.