Helping NASA Get a Raise

This May I went to Congress to help NASA get a raise. Perhaps surprisingly, I don't work for the space agency -- and I'm a student.

I've always supported NASA, but had never really made a good list of reasons why. That's when I joined the Citizens for Space Exploration -- a group of small and large businesses, teachers, students, local government employees, and others who believe investing is space exploration is a great idea.

Over the course of four days, 146 people from 29 states visited hundreds of congressional offices to make the case for NASA (my group met with North Carolina and Maryland representatives). When I first heard about their trip to speak with members of Congress, I expected everyone to be part of the space industry. I was wrong. No one in my group of five "citizen taxpayers" had ever worked for NASA.

Our meetings with representatives lasted anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes, during which time we explained the importance of NASA in the future of America and asked for a boost in the space agency's funding. How much, and by when? From 0.6 percent to 1 percent of the national budget by 2013. To get some perspective, look at NASA's funding during the Apollo era -- it received 4 percent of the national budget (almost seven times larger than today's funding situation).

I went on the trip because I've come to understand that NASA validates our role as explorers, has far-reaching educational benefits and creates new technology that ultimately brings us so many things we take for granted. By the end of my congressional visits, I felt like I could convince a total stranger why they should care about NASA.

We are an exploring species. Every elementary school student can tell you about Christopher Columbus' voyage, but few can tell you how the Norsemen found America in 1000 AD -- Columbus simply opened the floodgates to settling the Americas.

Like pre-Columbian explorers, we have visited the moon and now plan to settle it. NASA needs the proper funding to work towards permanent lunar colonies, but is a bit strapped. Imagine if Europeans had decided that it was too expensive to travel across the oceans and settle unknown lands. Now compare that to what future the other planets might hold for us.

To return to and colonize the moon, we need to develop new technologies. For example, moon settlers need to be able to generate their own food supplies and air to breathe on the moon. In the process of researching how to do such things, we push the technological barrier.

For example, the imaging technology used in some telescopes is now used to help detect cancer. My father is an orthodontist and uses brace wires derived from morphing materials researched by NASA. My mother is a physical therapist and uses a machine developed through research conducted on astronauts after they returned to Earth.

Maybe more important than technology spin-offs are the "people spin-offs." Teachers try to inspire students because they know it will help drive them to learn and succeed. A child who wants to be an astronaut knows they have to stay in school, stay out of trouble, attend college, etc. Although he or she may not become an astronaut, they're like to be inspired to go to college and stake out a career in science, technology, engineering, or math.

As a member of this new generation of explorers, I'm thrilled to help NASA return to the moon and colonize it, then head to Mars -- and beyond.

Laura Meyer is a University of Maryland senior in aerospace engineering at the James A. Clark School of Engineering.

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