Do you REALLY think expanding in space technology is helpful?

I mean, for me, I don't really care about what's out there in space. I'm satisfied w/ what I know about our universe now. After reading Y!'s front page article about the atom-smasher, I really wish that scientists wouldn't meddle w/ what's irrelevant to what we need to accomplish. What's relevant are things such as finding cures for cancer, AIDS, etc.

Irrelevant?! 40% of what we use everyday is the way it is because of NASA. Do you have smoke detectors in your house? What about that bite-sized cell phone that you saw and would love to have? The flat screened monitor you're looking at? NASA did all of that. What about cancer research? Did you know that a modern method that oncologists use to test women for breast cancer was developed by NASA? NASA employs hundreds of scientists of every type. NASA also designed the advanced prosthetics that amputees use. And the next time you fly in an airplane think about how you would be struck by lightning if it weren't for the lightning resistant material that NASA discovered for aviation. But I'll stop here. There was so much that at school we were supposed to give a three minute speech and I did mine on this, my speech was five minutes.

Funny that you bring up cures for cancer. See there's this whole field called nuclear medicine. They don't mean the nucleus of a biological cell either. They use nuclear energy and particles to treat illnesses such as cancers. Most hospitals will have something called an MRI in them. Bascially, it is a device which generates an intense magentic field then cycles and phases it. This causes the atoms in your body to react to the magnetism. The energy released by the atoms in your body undergoing this excitation can be interpretted byt the machine and a computer can make it into a picture of your insides. This is safer than using radiation such as roentgen's X-rays.
Decades ago when atom "smashers" were smaller and less capable, there was this thing that would generate a magnetic field and cycle and phase it in order to manipulate atoms in order to accelerate them along a path and itno a target atom. It was called a Synchro-Cyclotron Machine and any respactable physics research lab, such as CERN had one. You know CERN, they same people building the Hadron collider. Sound familiar?
So, personally, for me I definitely see the benefit of funding those wacky physicists and their research into trying to understand just how things work. Especially since my mom was helped through nuclear medicine and survived breast cancer.
And, since I want to keep this somewhat short, I won't go into jsut how many dozens of things the typical home contains that are a direct result of inventions from those other crazy people at NASA.

Well, let's take just one of your comments-fightingcancer is relevant.

The space program and our technology have been unable to develop adequate launch vehicles for over a decade because people like you won't support it.

Now--there are known drugs that are among the best for fighting cancer--and we don't have them, because we have to manufacture them isn space and we can''t do that.

So tens--maybe hundreds--of thousands of people are dying every single year because of people just like you,.
You admit you don't want to learn or know. You are so proud of your ignorance. Are you proud of the people who die because of the attitude of you and people like you?

How do you know that the development of space technology WILL NOT help cures for cancer or AIDS? For example, the respirator technology used in hospitals today was developed by a man interested in high altitude flight valves.

You cannot predict where developments come from. Also, we don't put money into space, all money is spent right here on earth. There aren't billions of dollars orbiting the earth and moon at the moment.

Welll...what would you think about it if scientist discover a SAFE and ECONOMICAL use for this technology? What if we can harness this energy to power a rocket to another planet, fuel your car, heat your home or provide energy to a factory??? The possibilities are ENDLESS.

Also...do a Google search and carefully examine just a few of the things developed by NASA for space, which has Earthly applications. Did you know that NASA developed Teflon for space use? I love teflon, it keeps my eggs from sticking to the pan. There are hundreds of other patients made available because of space technology.

How does that idea rock you???

The LHC (or "atom smasher" as I noticed people have been incorrectly calling it thanks to Yahoo. It smashes protons, not atoms) could spawn all kinds of new technology. Yes, technology that will help the medical field, too. Also technology to aid in space travel. But to call the LHC "space technology" is wrong. It is physics technology. The ISS is space technology, and I DO think that's a waste of money, mainly because the cost-to-productivity is so low, and all the governments are going to bicker about who gets to do what with it. But I am really excited about the LHC!

if u think about it, it is the curing of diseases that is less relevant to everything. think about how big u are, then how big the universe is. being human, which is more important, finding out how to keep healthy for yourself for 60-90 years, or finding out how you came into existence millions or thousands of years ago and to be remembered for thousands of years after that. which makes more of an impact on humanity and society?

well maybe for you,personally i think space/physics/earth science is interesting as hell...i love science period...you do know that there are thousands of types of cancer right so we arent searching for just one particular cure....

Yep.This way we know when threats from space will come.We can then protect ourselfs from harm.

Well, I can understand what you mean, because it seems that these billions dollars vanish in the space for "futile and unnecessary researching"...
As the users above said, there are actually many objects and technologies that we are using in our live on Earth, THANKS to the experiences,researchs and invests which were done in the space.
The benefits didn't appear immediately, but they do appear after years and years of scientific research.

One of the direct benefits on our lives were ... CELL-PHONES, GPS, since they can work thanks to the satellites which are in orbite above our heads...
And the scientists also managed to make tinier and tinier electronics, and that's why we have powerfull and efficient mobile laptops instead of these ugly and huge PC which would occupy the entire place of our appartments ( take a look at the old movies...)

You know, even something as awfull as WAR brought benefits to the human being...Sad but true, I agree...
For instance, during WW2, there was a race, between the US and the Nazi Germany for inventing data systems , calculators, missiles, planes, etc...Some military and space technologies happen to be improved and adapted later for domestic use...
The V2 missiles, for instance,helped making these much speeder planes that we need for our travels around the world...