Space Fact #28: Satellite Weather Tracking Is Worth $11 B
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Satellite-based weather tracking has an annual economic value of $11 billion.
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A Region in Space with its Own Terrain
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The Gravity Well does not look like a well when we consider it from our perspective here on Earth. It seems more like a wall than a well—or, rather, a mountain. This vertical peak has a few flat ledges and a few small valleys, all defined by gravitational forces.
Read MoreSpace Fact #27: $1 in Space Brings $8
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For every dollar spent on space, the knowledge ore brings back as much as $8. And that’s not counting the 65,000 jobs created by the space program.
Read MoreA Physical Well, or a Well of Physics
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To an astrophysicist, the Gravity Well is a physical force, a field of attraction between two bodies in space, diminishing with distance. For engineers, the Gravity Well is the great physical challenge of overcoming that force.
Read MoreSpace Fact #26: The Space Economy Is Booming
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The space industry generates more than $300 billion in revenue, an amount that continues to grow 5% to 15% a year.
Read MoreSpace Lunacy
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Future generations will see the decision to turn back from “the Moon as an act of sheer lunacy—one akin to the Chinese burning their world-dominating fleet of ships in the early fifteenth century.
Read MoreSpace Fact #25: Where Internet Satellites Go
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More than 250 satellites in geosynchronous orbit, or GEO, enable our Internet, television, and telephone communications.
Read MoreHow Much Is Our Influence Worth?
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Let’s see if we can attach a dollar value to the international benefits of the public space program. The amount spent each year on international affairs by the federal government totals about $800 billion a year. That includes the State Department (about $50 billion), Defense ($600 billion), Energy ($24 million), and Veterans Affairs $150 billion). What if a fraction of that $800 billion went to the space program to help build our international standing?
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