With all of the talk of the "space race" between the leading powers--Russia, China and the United States, many assume that America may be beaten by its more socialistic friends. But upon examination of what each nation spent last year for the budget, one wonders if "the dragon and the bear" will reach there at all.
Last year Russia spent a total of $660 million towards its space program, while China spent an estimated $500 million. NASA, in retrospect spent $16.5 billion, dwarfing both nations roughly 14 times over.Although both countries space programs have accomplished amazing feats, establishing a presence on the moon will cost billions of dollars, which is definitely outside of either nation's budget.
Unless significant strides are taken to increase funding towards the stars, Russia and China may have to settle for an American presence looking down on both of them from above.
Source: Red Orbit (Article 1, Article 2)
Want more space geek news? Then subscribe below via email, RSS or twitter for free updates! Prefer another service? How about via RSS or follow Colony Worlds on Twitter!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
You can either visit the stars or watch them from afar.
But if you choose the former, you'll definitely get a better view.
~Darnell Clayton, 2007
Note: You do not need a Blogger account in order to comment, but you do need to solve the universal puzzle below.