“The advent of a nuclear-electric rocket engine in the late 1970s, a manned expedition to Mars in the 1980s, the creation of a base on the moon in the 1990s, and finally the completion of the construction of an orbital laser catapult to launch interstellar probes in the beginning of the 21st century, are not at all science fiction, but forecast. Moreover, the forecast is quite realistic. It could be so. And so it would certainly be! If all of the above achievements of the mind were not a waste of money,” was written in MIRF https://www.mirf.ru/science/nesbyvshiesya-predskazania-fantastov
However, blogger Alex Rozof gave examples of a real waste of money, and hypothetically calculated how this money could be spent on space exploration.
“Waste of money? Come on! Let's look at a REALLY waste of money.
Twitter’s net profit for 2014 would be enough to send the Deep Space 1 probe to Braille asteroid and Borelli comet. And Apple's annual income would be enough to dot Mars with fifteen (!) Curiosity rovers.
For the amount spent on the acquisition of WhatsApp, it was possible to send six Rosetta probes to Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
And if someone decided to sell Instagram, then that would be enough to launch fourteen Hubble telescopes into Earth orbit.
NASA's annual budget is only one fifth of what Microsoft earns in a year.
If Larry Ellison and Bill Gates had joined their capitals, they could have funded the whole Apollo program, which includes six moon landings. And the remaining money would be enough to launch the Cassini-Huygens probe to the rings of Saturn.
So space exploration isn’t that expensive?
... And now even more specifically
Comparison table - here: https://habr.com/en/post/373875/
I quote selectively:
I.
About $ 100 million
Penthouse in CitySpire
Manhattan Center with approximately 750 m2
About 112 million $
The cost of the Hayabusa mission delivering soil samples from Itokawa asteroid
II.
1,4 mlr $
The cost of building the Wembley Stadium in London
$ 1.1 billion
The cost of the mission of Juno studying the atmosphere and structure of Jupiter
III.
$ 1.68 billion
The cost of building the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai
$ 1.56 billion
The cost of the Voyagers mission with service until 1990
IV.
$ 2.76 billion
The cost of building the Dream City gaming and hotel complex in Macau
$ 2.5 billion
The cost of the mission of the Curiosity rover (at the moment)
V.
$ 17.5 billion
The cost of building the aircraft carrier "Gerald R. Ford"
$ 17.7 billion
The entire NASA budget for 2013
VI.
$ 33.9 billion
Tunnel cost under the English Channel
$ 39.2 billion
The NASA budget for 2016 and 2017, ”writes the blogger in his LiveJournal.
Original source https://alex-rozoff.livejournal.com/201336.html?media&utm_source=recommended
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