I came across an article recently that talks about SpaceX and their recent endeavors, including landing a rocket on a barge. While for most people this idea is novel and mildly interesting; up until they realize that they're already on the third try. Besides who really cares anyway? While landing a rocket on a moving vehicle that is subject to an insane number of variables including tides, the Coriolis effect, and not to mention that pesky thing called gravity, seems interesting, it doesn't seem like it has much use. They're doing it just to say they did it and that's that. Right? Wrong.

Some make the argument that space exploration is a bit of a sham for the following reason: "Alright, we made it to space. Where is the payoff for those billions invested?" For many, this is an extremely valid line of reasoning. There are no jewels in space. No gold. In fact, especially in the case of gold, we have to dump these precious resources into a vacuum where we will never ever see those resources again. As investors we would have to agree to "wasting" resources before we even start with no prospect of a payoff. So the question becomes why do we care? What is it that the investor, politician, and normal tax-payer all stand to gain from funding space exploration that makes ventures like SpaceX something that we should all be more interested in?

Let me answer that with another question. What would the world be like without smart phones? Or cell phones in general? A lot more open to random social interactions, but that is a discussion for another time. The answer is that the world probably wouldn't go around quite as fast without cell phones. Not as much work would be done, and companies couldn't coordinate/communicate as well. Cell phones are themselves are based on wireless communications. Which was derived from NASA's need to communicate with the Voyager, Hubble, and all those satellites they have. Without that technology we couldn't have computers communicating with each other and the trade floor for conducting micro-trades that optimize the potential gain for stocks traded there.

Speaking of computers, aren't they nifty? Once the first Microsoft operating system came out, software seemed to progress relentlessly and swiftly giving the world these shiny new toys/work aids, while making the millions who invested in computer companies, well millions. As it turns out, computers are a conglomeration of really tiny circuits producing tiny electrical impulses to add and subtract stuff. Basically calculators with fancy screens. What was the first organization to throw money at this until they had a user interface that, let's say an astronaut, could use to do less work on a strenuous and life-threatening mission? NASA, specifically during the Apollo missions.

Cat-scans, treadmills and other exercise equipment, water filters, Super Soakers, solar energy, smoke detectors, cordless tools, cochlear implants, invisible braces, space blankets, insulin pumps, flame-resistant clothing, exo-skeleton research including prosthetics, things that don't rust, digital cameras, handheld vacuums, laser based heart surgery, modern tires, insulation, and this thing that eats chemicals that are horrendous for the environment. And those are only a few of the more modern products that have come directly from some technology either vastly improved or entirely pioneered by NASA. There's also the original wave of things, including Velcro, NASA made before it was even NASA and shortly following its creation.

So to those who ask, "Why do we go to space? What could we possibly gain?" I simply ask, "Which answer do you want?" I could go on and on about the excitement of exploration and discovery, the philosophical reasons we should reach for the stars, and conquer the heavens. But if you'd like to know an immediate reason for why we go, look at the world around you. If you like your phone, your Brita filter, your TempurPedic bed, and the cushioned soles in your shoes, then there lies your answer.

President Kennedy probably explained best in his inspirational speech in Rice Stadium where he said,

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

Since then, we've effectively exported our space delivery system, so NASA isn't likely to give us anything cool in terms of propulsion anytime soon, so I say turn to SpaceX. They have taken up the mantle of doing things "because they are hard." NASA tried 11 times to put someone on the moon, and gave us some pretty awesome stuff in the process. SpaceX is trying to land a rocket on a barge, something that was well beyond our grasp just 5 years ago and so far they've failed 3 times.

And I can't wait to see what they've made along the way when they finally succeed.