Yeah the public often understands more than many give them credit for. Also I would like to point out, before someone tries to spin this as 'people don't care about human space exploration', that public opinion is based on what they (we) can see in a field that isn't ours, not on future perspectives. So, to the public, human exploration as is (costly, slow, leading nowhere) is useless. And rightfully so.It's up to the 'experts', the real players in human space exploration to show them, concretely, how the future can be bright and worth it. So far they haven't been up to the job, with a few exceptions. Evidently those few exceptions still aren't enough.
Just to get some perspective. Most of them answer these polls with only a vague, completely inaccurate concept of what "space" even is.
Yeah the public often understands more than many give them credit for.
I noticed that what NASA is currently doing (for example, ISS) is more popular than what we are not currently doing (going to the Moon).
I suspect that if we were already going to the Moon, it would be more popular.
The only time when more than half of the public believed Apollo was worth the expense came at the time of the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969, when Neil Armstrong took humanity's first steps on alien soil. Even then, only a lukewarm 53 percent of the public believed such a momentous historical occasion had been worth the cost.
The other thing is that I suspect that most people believe that going to the Moon would cost a fortune and there is no appetite for that kind of spending increase.
Others probably believe that space exploration should be done by private companies or billionaires.
What Elon Musk does, won't cost NASA any money? Musk wants NASA as a customer. NASA won't get to ride for free.
As to the rest of your post, by your logic, we shouldn't be doing any human exploration at all.
Quote from: yg1968 on 06/08/2018 01:50 amWhat Elon Musk does, won't cost NASA any money? Musk wants NASA as a customer. NASA won't get to ride for free.The U.S. Government (which includes NASA) is under no requirement to write checks to Elon Musk for Mars colonization.QuoteAs to the rest of your post, by your logic, we shouldn't be doing any human exploration at all.I think America's HSF goals in space are very unclear right now, which means it's not just the American public that would not be supportive of sending government employees back to our Moon, but also Congress. And in the 7+ years since the SLS and Orion were created by Congress, Congress has not seen fit to authorize any long-term BEO efforts that require humans, which kind of confirms there is currently little interest in HSF beyond LEO.Elect me President and I will have very clear goals:The goal of the United States of America is to expand our economic sphere of influence out into space, starting with a reusable transportation system to the region of our Moon. NASA, which is the premier space technology organization in the world, will support this effort by helping our private sector to tackle the challenges they face in creating profitable business ventures that rely on activities in space.BOOM! (mic drop)
I never said that NASA was under any obligation to pay SpaceX anything. But if you look at the past trend, NASA has been one of SpaceX's main customer and that trend is likely to continue in the future.
As to your second point, my understanding is that space mining only makes sense if you are going to use these ressources in space. Unless you have a colony in space (or a Moon village, etc.). I am not sure that there is a market for that at this point in time.
I believe that space tourism is a market but it's currently only a small market for billionaires. Of course the cheaper space transportation is, the larger the space tourism market becomes.
I am a big fan of Blue and SpaceX but I think that both these companies most important customers will be or will continue to be governments (including NASA) for the foreseeable future.
...And we really have no idea when the private sector will find sustainable business models that support expanding humanity out into space. It could be soon, or it may be generations into the future. But we know the #1 reason for holding us back is the cost of doing things in space, so why shouldn't that be the #1 goal to be worked on?