I'm late to this conversation but I always get frustrated at the false dichotomy of spending money here on Earth or in space. We are spending money on human civilization - regardless of where that civilization is. Location is irrelevant.
A growing, technological civilization cannot be constrained to our home planet forever - at least not without making some tough choices. Earth is a finite space with finite resources. Obviously, we cannot continue to grow our civilization on it forever. That is common sense. We can stretch the time frame out with smart use of new technologies but in the end, we either expand into space or stagnate and wither.
There are multiple pathways to go into space. I personally don't see much point settling the surface of other planets except for niche purposes. But we can build artificial rotating habitats with a land area equal to over a billion planets. That starts with building a space-based infrastructure on the moon. The moon is relatively easily mined with relatively low cost to transporting the mined material to space. That is the next step and it won't be accomplished with robots alone.
The cost of Artemis is ridiculous because it is a government project. It was designed before SpaceX demonstrated the possibility and feasibility of making reusable rockets. Big governments operate very differently than the way a private company does. Artemis was bult by multiple contractors deliberately spread over multiple states to spread out the jobs over multiple jurisdictions to satisfy as many politicians and voters as possible. It was a massively inefficient mess by design. The SpaceX Starship isn't a thing yet but it will be and will bring costs down dramatically.
We are at the breakout point. We either expand into space and continue to grow or we decline.
A growing, technological civilization cannot be constrained to our home planet forever - at least not without making some tough choices. Earth is a finite space with finite resources. Obviously, we cannot continue to grow our civilization on it forever. That is common sense. We can stretch the time frame out with smart use of new technologies but in the end, we either expand into space or stagnate and wither.
There are multiple pathways to go into space. I personally don't see much point settling the surface of other planets except for niche purposes. But we can build artificial rotating habitats with a land area equal to over a billion planets. That starts with building a space-based infrastructure on the moon. The moon is relatively easily mined with relatively low cost to transporting the mined material to space. That is the next step and it won't be accomplished with robots alone.
The cost of Artemis is ridiculous because it is a government project. It was designed before SpaceX demonstrated the possibility and feasibility of making reusable rockets. Big governments operate very differently than the way a private company does. Artemis was bult by multiple contractors deliberately spread over multiple states to spread out the jobs over multiple jurisdictions to satisfy as many politicians and voters as possible. It was a massively inefficient mess by design. The SpaceX Starship isn't a thing yet but it will be and will bring costs down dramatically.
We are at the breakout point. We either expand into space and continue to grow or we decline.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein