15 Jul '15 02:21>1 edit
The post that was quoted here has been removedYou're off-topic, of course.
I hardly ever visit the Science Forum and was not aware there was a thread there.
Money spent on space exploration is sometimes controversial. A fair amount of the populace want such programs ended and the money spent on Earth. Surely you are aware of these facts. For example:
Despite these positive opinions of the space program, just a two-in-ten Americans in the 2012 GSS survey said that the U.S. spends too little on space exploration. Four-in-ten believed the current spending was adequate, while three-in-ten believed further cuts should be made to the program. Instead, Americans strongly preferred increased spending on programs closer to home, including education (76😵, public health (59😵, and developing alternative energy sources (59😵.
Currently, total funding for NASA accounts for 0.5% of the federal government’s budget. Of that funding, the space exploration program accounts for roughly 22% of NASA’s budget.
The disinclination to spend money on space exploration has already had an impact when it comes to ambitious projects like space colonization. In 2012, the NASA budget took a 20% hit to its planetary science programs, severely crippling NASA’s Mars exploration program.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/04/23/americans-keen-on-space-exploration-less-so-on-paying-for-it/
So stop hijacking the thread.