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Ace... I have an aversion to most things American (Motown and blues excepted!), but the money NASA spends is not money down the drain.

Many experiments have been conducted in space that just couldn't be done here on earth... just one example is the ability to mix certain compounds and chemicals in zero gravity that looks like providing a permanent solution to diabetes. 90% of civilian space research is to do with pharmacuticals, communications and the weather... nobody is seriously thinking of colonising other planets at the moment.

If what the US military spent on spy satelites and armaments was diverted to civilian use, many of the millions of people in the third world who die each year of diseases and malnutrition could be saved. Whether this larger global population could be sustained is another matter.

Bob S
www.fullservice.org.uk

Good points lads, and I appreciate not being crucified for my post. Being 'in the know' with what the MoD spend on shoddy equipment and what NASA or the US Goverment spend on space exploration and arms, it really irks me thinking what better use it could be spent on. I for one laughed my arse off when NASA 'lost' the Mars probe a few years back because some prat configerated dials not in accordance to the blue prints, but felt bad thinking 25 billion dollars could have been spent financing better health care for impoverished Americans unable to pay for treatment in hospitals. Incidently, the Mars probe was sent to see if there was water on the planet..........$25,000,000,000,000 for THAT?!!!!!!!!!!!!

what a waste?[that money could have gone towards helping to find a cure for tumours and such like]thought they found water and plant life on mars yrs ago unless that was the moon.

correct me if im wrong but im sure water and plant life was discovered either in 69,or 71?

Your wrong as usual Steve!! And if you beLIEve the US REALLY went to the moon, you'll believe ANYTHING!! What you are thinking is meteors landing here had fossilized water samples which led us to think water exisits outside Earth. Mars is generally regarded as a planet that holds vast amounts of lakes and natural resevoirs all under the surface, but with all that radiation from the sun, would you drink it??

Neither.
There MAY be subsurface lunar water, but that's still in doubt.
Plants cannot survive without gaseous oxygen and carbon dioxide.
As for Mars, there was definitely water in the past, and there is indirect evidence of previous micro-organic life. The ice-caps appear to be mostly frozen CO2.