The most common argument against a publicly funded space program is that we can’t afford it, given the government’s many other priorities. The most common answer is that space makes an excellent public investment.But if it is a good investment, why not leave space to private investors? Economist Mariana Mazzucato argues that publicly funded missions help turn economic uncertainty into calculable risk. By her definition, calculating the return on public space expenditures becomes impossible.On the other hand, if you look at the American economy before, during, and after Apollo, you can see a co ..read more

Government’s role in space requires patience. Missions take years, even decades. The distance our probes cover is vast. Results are far from instantaneous, the costs are huge, and the payoffs are neither immediate nor always recognizable. It’s easy to compare a behemoth like NASA with the much-slimmer, more nimble SpaceX and its competitors. After all, they’re run by brilliant aerospace engineers and dotcom entrepreneurs, while NASA is run, ultimately, by 535 members of Congress, many of them more interested in producing jobs in their own districts than in the efficiencies of missions.But spac ..read more