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Spending money on space exploration
Space tourism introduction
Spending money on space exploration
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Pictures are not made without a reason. Every visual construct has some underlying purpose. Often times this purpose is to express the thoughts or emotions of its constructer. Political cartoons are used to this effect. These cartoons speak volumes about a period or event in time. If a picture truly is worth a thousand words, a political cartoon is worth one thousand one. Political cartoons are almost always drawn from the ideas of the public. Because of their significance to an event in time, they can be examined to reveal the opinion of the people during the time frame. Cartoonists are voices of the public and Greenberg is not an exception.
Greenberg is a notable cartoonist, responsible for a great number of works. One of his cartoons, named
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“Space Tourism,” appeared in the Los Angeles Freelance (2008). This cartoon is captioned with the phrase, “Money: the Final Frontier.” This is a play on the famous introductory lines from the Star Trek movie series. Greenberg’s cartoon, published February 4, 2008, expresses the massive opinion on the idea of private space tourism. October 4, 2004, four years before Greenberg’s cartoon, SpaceShipOne was launched, claiming the Ansari X-prize (2004, Rogerson). The Ansari X-prize was a $10,000 prize for launching a shuttle successfully twice within two weeks. On February 3, 2008, an article was released describing the launch of SpaceShipTwo (2008, Mckeegan). This shows that the idea of space tourism was not a new one. The Russian Soyuz has been responsible for nearly all commercial space travel to date (2013, Webber). The Soyuz has been taking, typically no more than one person per year, up along with trained professionals going to the ISS (2013, Webber). Greenberg’s cartoon shows a negative take on the pursuit of space tourism. The negative attitude towards space tourism was most likely caused by the less fortunate people believing that touring space was a waste of money. Space tourism is not scientific research. Space exploration is funded to run experiments and test things in outer space. Space tourism is going to space for the sole reason of seeing space. This opinion was formed because space tourism is expensive, dangerous, and not yet feasibly productive. Space travel of any kind carries a hefty price tag.
The materials to build a shuttle must be top tier materials. Every time a shuttle launches, some parts are damaged beyond repair and must be replaced. Fuel for a shuttle is also expensive. People must be paid to build the ship and must be paid to work ground control. These expenses, along with others, begin to add up quickly. NASA reported that their average launch costs $450 million (2015, Bray). These funds are being used to do scientific research to help society. Spending that much money just to see space seems ludicrous. However, as Greenberg points out in his cartoon, money has power. A study was done in 1980 to see how many were interested in space tourism. This study found that “over 40 million people would like to take a trip on a space shuttle, and some 55 million would like to take a cruise ship-like space trip” (2015, Chang). In 1994 it was projected that space tourism could bring in about $50 million annually (2015, Chang). Comparing $450 million to the projected intake of $50 million shows just how expensive it would be. $50 million is a large price tag for a suborbital …show more content…
flight. A suborbital flight has enough power to reach space, but not enough to go into orbit. These flights are typically just up and back down. This most likely is not what consumers would want for their space tourism experience. They would probably desire an orbital flight. An orbital flight would require more complex materials and parts, adding further to the cost of the trip. In 2012, Space X, announced they would charge $20 million per seat on their orbital trips (2012, Webber). Virgin Galactic, another promising private space exploration start up, has plans to build an entire fleet of ships for commercial space travel. In 2015 it was forecast that, in order to complete their goals, Virgin Galactic would need to be a $2 billion program (2015, Adams). Virgin Galactic has been known for its pursuit of commercial space tourism since its foundation. The company was partially responsible for the success of the SpaceShipOne. However, they did not find the same success with the SpaceShipTwo. The SpaceShipTwo test flight crashed in the Mojave Desert in California on October 31, 2014. It is theorized that the same things that made the SpaceShipOne so successful, its thin design and choice of rockets, did not translate into the bulkier SpaceShipTwo (2014, Pultavora). It is thought that the rockets were not even safe for missiles and should not even been considered for use in a manned space vehicle (2014, Pultavora). This shows how even the simplest mistake can cause a dangerous calamity. Space exploration in all aspects is dangerous. The SpaceShipTwo incident shows that private space companies are subject to the same potential disasters as NASA or any other government run programs. NASA has had many incidents that made huge news. Some of the most infamous of these incidents were caused by two scientists using similar, but different, units of measurements. A tiny mistake like that was all it took to bring a million dollar shuttle crashing into the ground. NASA takes a plethora of precautions to help avoid these errors, but the errors persist. NASA has strict requirements for mission specialists. These specialists are not the ones flying the craft; they are coming to do research or experiments. NASA mission specialists must have, a “bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in engineering, biological science, physical science, or mathematics,” the “ability to pass a NASA space physical,” and a “height between 58.5 and 76 inches” (2015, Dunbar). NASA has strict requirement, but what mandates that private space tourism companies have to do the same? There is too large a chance for error. A yard is 0.9 times the length of a meter. They are incredibly close to the same size, but even this tiny margin of error is enough to take a shuttle down. A private space program has the same chance of making this slight mistake as a government program, and society has seen what happens when that mistake is made. Space tourism does not have much promise to benefit society. Greenberg’s cartoon depicts how society felt about the concept of space tourism. The rocket shown seems to be burning money as fuel. That is how it must have appeared to the people at the time. Tourism is the same as scientific exploration. Launching a billionaire into space so that they can say they have seen the stars is a pointless endeavor to the majority of society. Anything with a price tag of millions of dollars needs to have a widely beneficial purpose. Tourism is a huge industry netting millions of dollars every year; however, the typical tourist trip is comparatively far less dangerous. A cruise around the world can costs thousands of dollars, but the danger of a cruise is not comparable to the danger of rocketing into space. Both regular tourism and space tourism have proven to be popular ideas. Technology today is rapidly advancing and may make space travel more affordable and safe.
A day may come with the public will change its opinion to be contrary to the one shown in Greenberg’s cartoon, but until that day comes, space tourism is not practical. It has been forecast to bring in a large amount of revenue, but the current cost versus the amount of money expected to be made yields little to no profit. A serious business like space travel cannot survive with no profit. The cost of refueling, repairs, and maintenance of the shuttles is substantial. Profit would have to be made to make the endeavor worth continuing. As it stands the cost of launching a ship is far too expensive and dangerous to be worth the effort of pursing it for commercial
reasons. Greenberg’s cartoon shows the disapproving public’s views on what they see to be as burning money. These “ultra-rich” most likely are not trained like the space professionals who are researching. The cost of sending a typical NASA mission into the sky is $450 million. Societal views say that if this money is not being put towards discovering or learning, then it is being wasted. Space tourism as it currently is, is not feasible, is too expensive, and is too dangerous. In the past outer space was seen as the final frontier of exploration. Greenberg’s cartoon expresses the thought that money is now the final frontier. How far will money be able to take the world?
The first cartoon is with Theodore Roosevelt wearing hunting gear and holding a gun. There’s bull sitting on the moon reading the newspaper. There are different names for this political cartoon, like don’t shoot, I’ll come down, the beef trust and et cetera. This cartoon was made when TR was “trust busting” small corporations. After Jungle by Upton Sinclair, people and TR wanted changed. So changes were made and the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1907, which made sure that inspections are made before meats are processed and ready to be delivered.
Deriving from the Dutch word “karton” and the Italian word “cartone,” a cartoon is “ a form of two dimensional illustrated visual art” (toonsmag). A cartoon can typically range from being a child’s pastime to going as far as confronting the socioeconomic and political issues in a country. People known as editorial cartoonists draw these cartoons, often called political or editorial cartoons, using tools such as hyperbole, artistic proficiency, and satire in order to poke fun at and inform the public about a certain issue. One famous editorial cartoonist who is known for his cartoonist is Gary Markstein. “The Iraq Surge”, one of Markstein’s lesser-known works, and the “Five years in Iraq” both deal with the Iraq War. The Iraq war was an invasion
In this class, the stereotypes that were discussed were the ones that the cartoon portrays: violent and considered as an inferior race. The stereotype violent mainly came from Bare Knuckle boxing though because it was the best job an Irish man could get and they were reinforcing it. The stereotype inferior race came from the fact that the WASPs said that the Irish were black on the inside. They considered them as “simian, low browed and brutish” comparing them to Africans and apes, and also said that they were apelike, lazy, immoral, and uneducated. These stereotypes connect with inferior race because the WASPs think that they could have proved that the Irish were not just like them.
Political cartoons could be defined as illustrations or cartoon strips that contain a social and/or political message in them. Political cartoons are often based on the current events around when they were written.
Saturday Morning Cartoons Saturday morning cartoons are on the verge of becoming extinct on the major networks. Year after year there are continually less and worse cartoons on Saturday mornings. It was painful and sad but I thought that they had hit rock bottom and they will only get better from here. However, it now seems that cartoons may very well slide out of existence.
INTRODUCTION Attention-getter: “Space travel benefits us here on Earth. And we ain’t stopped yet. There’s more exploration to come.” (Nichelle Nichols from Star Trek) Credibility: Throughout our childhood as we study space, solar systems, planets we all come to a point of having the dream of exploring the space or learn more about it in the future.
Politics is an ongoing controversial discussion; Everyone has the right to participate and indulge in the political movement. Although chaotic at times, it is extremely important and crucial to our future. With that being said, it is important to note that various cartoon artists take pride in replicating important issue through their art. Artist appeal to their audience by using logical fallacies, ethos, and by emphasizing or pointing out important messages within their artwork. Doug MacGregor, a political cartoon artist, had the honor to form a part of the 2016 elections by displaying his ideas in a political cartoon. The cartoon titled “It Takes Brains to be President” by MacGregor alludes to social media and political knowledge using symbolism.
Cartoon Analysis from PIck of the Week’s Cartoons (Choose 1 cartoon to analyze, and answer the questions below.)
Cartoon Analysis Bloom County was a political satire comic strip created in the 1980s by cartoonist Berkeley Breathed. The comic is based largely on humor, often reflecting political iron, and uses imagery and symbolism ripped from the headlines of current events. First syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group in 1980, Bloom County debuted as a whimsical newspaper satire strip providing a parody of situations and events. Many thoughts that fueled Berkeley (Berk) imagination stemmed from experiences in his many incarnations while he worked for a University newspaper known as The Daily Texan. Largely influenced by Gary Trudeau with his strip Doonesbury, Berkeley’s voice in his drawing, often delved into political humor, hints of surrealism through animals, as well as dating & sex jokes.
The question of whether or not to make space travel privatization functional has been a problem for the government, NASA, and for anyone else interested in space travel. Space travel privatization is about making private space companies to be able to send people into space. It relates to being able to earn enough money for more space companies to open up and benefits us with a possibility to send humans back into space again. Space travel should not be privatized because if done correctly, we will be able to travel to space, save money spent from buying seats on Russian spacecrafts, and to have more jobs in the space exploration fields.
This cartoon by Eales, Stan was uploaded on Cartoonstock.com on April 22, 2008. On the website, the cartoon can be purchased, so that company or newspaper could use it for an article or online usage. The artist is saying since there are so much shootings going around, especially targeted near the younger audiences, that there is a higher risk of actually getting shot. So, the father in the cartoon is asking his son what he wants to be if he grows up. Which is basically telling him you might get shot soon with all of these shootings happening and won’t be able to experience adulthood life. I can agree to this cartoon because this past year has been absolutely insane and depressing on how many people have died from shootings. It is scary to think
Carl Sagan once said “every planetary civilization will be endangered by impacts from space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring--not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive... If our long-term survival is at stake, we have a basic responsibility to our species to venture to other worlds.” The National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA, is executing Sagan’s words every day. President Dwight D. Eisenhower created NASA in 1958 with the purpose of peaceful rather than military space exploration and research to contribute to society. Just 11 years after the creation, NASA put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon, the first humans to accomplish this feat. NASA’s research and innovation looked promising but it came at a cost. Money, resources, and spacecraft accidents most famously Apollo 13 all hindered NASA’s research. In the 21st century the debate between funding for NASA is at its peak since the birth of the organization in 1958 especially when there are numerous problems throughout the world. Is the money spent on space exploration worth the advantages and advances it contributes to society?
The main argument against space travel is that the money used could be better put on other matters. This is, in fact, very untrue. Looking at NASA’s 2015 budget of $17.5 billion, it may seem like a lot, until you realize that the US military budget for 2014 was $581 billion (5). Furthermore, it was estimated that each dollar in NASA’s budget was equivalent to 8 – 10 dollars of economic benefit (6). If an organization can bring about economic value at 10 folds the original budget, it would be logical to continue funding it, if not increasing the funds.
Art and comedy like this have been done countless times and in many better ways. That is not to say the image is poor in any ways, but that it lacks the uniqueness to impact someone's life in any substantial way. After analyzing this image I learned what its purpose was and why it was created. I found that the image was for comedic purposes and that it was made for laughter. I would still like to know who created the image and what their own personal inspiration was. I would like to know if they saw similar images and wanted to make there own or if this person wanted or still wants to be a
Curiosity and exploration are hardwired into our basic human nature. We strive to understand and explore the environment around us. From individuals climbing Mt. Everest, to those journeying deep into the Amazon Rainforest, it is our innate desire to discover and be adventurous. It is natural that this desire would eventually turn to areas beyond our planet. In the late 1950’s the escalation of the Cold War led to the space race. It started with the launch of the satellite Sputnik I by Russia, and produced amazing feats such as the United States putting a man on the moon. During the height of the space race, NASA was receiving 4.31 % of the national budget (Office of Management and Budget), and it took only eight years for NASA to reach the