[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:00.02,0:00:03.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why should we spend money on NASA when we already have so many problems here on Earth?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:03.54,0:00:05.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If somebody asked you this question,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:05.31,0:00:06.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how would you answer?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:06.49,0:00:08.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's been nearly five years since I left
Dialogue: 0,0:00:08.37,0:00:13.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I came back to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory today to help answer this tough question
Dialogue: 0,0:00:13.05,0:00:17.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But before I even get to the five reasons I think we should spend money on NASA
Dialogue: 0,0:00:17.04,0:00:19.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I need to clear one thing up. What percentage of the US budget
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.71,0:00:24.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Do you think goes to NASA? According to polls most Americans think it's 20 percent so it should come as no surprise
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.24,0:00:29.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That one in four Americans think that NASA's budget should be reduced.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.50,0:00:32.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you say the total budget represents a dollar or 100 pennies
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.70,0:00:36.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The truth is NASA gets less than one-half of one penny.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:36.66,0:00:43.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For comparison, 16% goes to the military and 60% goes to social programs like Social Security, unemployment, Medicare and health care.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:43.98,0:00:45.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Okay, so if that is our foundation
Dialogue: 0,0:00:45.98,0:00:52.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Let me give you five incredible things that we get in return for that half a percent or less than nine dollars a year for most Americans
Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.18,0:00:55.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just like some might ask
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.58,0:01:00.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why should we spend time exploring space when we have so many problems here on Earth? Some of our ancestors probably asked
Dialogue: 0,0:01:00.06,0:01:05.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Why should we waste time trying to figure out agriculture when we have so much work to do hunting and gathering?" or
Dialogue: 0,0:01:05.28,0:01:09.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Why should we spend so much time messing around in boats when we have so many issues here on the land?"
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.36,0:01:11.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the answer to all three of these questions is the same:
Dialogue: 0,0:01:11.44,0:01:19.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Reaching for new heights often creates new solutions and opportunities for people back on the ground, and I have some personal experience with this concept
Dialogue: 0,0:01:19.38,0:01:20.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As most of you guys know by now,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.46,0:01:23.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I spent seven of my nine years here at NASA working on the
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.44,0:01:27.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Curiosity rover in fact some of my hardware is still working like a champ on the top deck of the rover
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.70,0:01:31.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'll be it a little dirtier since I touched it last but for my last two years here
Dialogue: 0,0:01:31.26,0:01:35.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I worked on a much lesser known project called SMAP and in some ways
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.14,0:01:42.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm more proud of what it represents because SMAP is a super complex Earth orbiting satellite. Here's how it works.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:42.20,0:01:47.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Once it's in orbit the antenna boom is deployed and in this 20 foot gold mesh reflector
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.10,0:01:53.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Origamis out like one of those Hoberman's sphere toys, and then the whole thing starts freaking spinning at 15 rpm
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.78,0:01:58.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it's using a Radiometer that can see through the clouds to measure the soil moisture levels on earth
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.34,0:02:02.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is important because soil moisture is one of the key vital signs of the planet.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.70,0:02:06.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,By measuring the moisture levels in the soil, it allows you to predict droughts,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:06.18,0:02:11.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,monitor floods and even predict crop yields for a given year and because the antenna spins around like that,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:11.84,0:02:15.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you're able to measure all the soil on Earth every two to three days.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:15.72,0:02:18.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I left before it actually launched in 2015,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:18.96,0:02:24.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so the reason I am here today is to follow up with some SMAP research scientists to see how things turned out
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.08,0:02:32.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've been to many countries in Africa. People know about SMAP and the national government of those countries are trying to use it especially
Dialogue: 0,0:02:32.90,0:02:39.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for drought especially for crop monitoring. So NASA has a data access policy of you know making it free for everybody
Dialogue: 0,0:02:39.80,0:02:42.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are three major cereal crop on the earth
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.96,0:02:48.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wheat, rice and corn. If you can forecast these three major crops
Dialogue: 0,0:02:48.02,0:02:55.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So you know 70-80 percent of you know forecast you can do the crop field of the whole world. What Narenda is saying here is
Dialogue: 0,0:02:55.06,0:03:00.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Remarkable to me, and it sums up my first point perfectly SMAP costs to 900 million dollars
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.52,0:03:06.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Africa is the continent with the most extreme poverty today. I did the math and for 900 million dollars
Dialogue: 0,0:03:06.66,0:03:09.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You could feed all of Africa for less than a day
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.78,0:03:15.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But instead we invested in research and technology which empowers them to better help themselves
Dialogue: 0,0:03:15.44,0:03:18.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Increasing the amount of food they can make on their own
Dialogue: 0,0:03:18.22,0:03:23.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For decades as opposed to a one-time fleeting handout. Of the 37 missions currently running at JPL
Dialogue: 0,0:03:23.80,0:03:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think it's so cool that about half are studying and helping earth, just like SMAP
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.76,0:03:31.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a fancy way of saying
Dialogue: 0,0:03:31.80,0:03:37.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We should be doing everything within our power to make sure that nothing catastrophically bad happens to us
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.04,0:03:44.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hollywood got this right when they said that a large asteroid impact would be really bad news. Now the chances of this happening are small
Dialogue: 0,0:03:44.16,0:03:47.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the potential consequences are so large just ask these guys
Dialogue: 0,0:03:47.92,0:03:54.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It makes sense to take it seriously. NASA has already put an asteroid early warning detection system in place and in October
Dialogue: 0,0:03:54.84,0:03:58.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,2022 for the first time ever they will test ramming a
Dialogue: 0,0:03:58.52,0:04:03.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Spacecraft into an asteroid to see if you can deflect it off course with a mission called DART
Dialogue: 0,0:04:03.44,0:04:06.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But perhaps an even bigger threat to humans are humans
Dialogue: 0,0:04:07.40,0:04:11.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one of the goals of all of the Rovers that we sent to Mars is to gather data on what
Dialogue: 0,0:04:11.76,0:04:13.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It would take for humans to live there
Dialogue: 0,0:04:13.49,0:04:20.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Establishing a permanent human outpost on Mars would serve sort of like a backup hard drive for your computer in case something catastrophically bad
Dialogue: 0,0:04:20.32,0:04:21.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,happened here on earth
Dialogue: 0,0:04:23.84,0:04:28.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,America's first satellite was built here at JPL and now satellites make it so we can get GPS
Dialogue: 0,0:04:28.72,0:04:36.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,driving directions on our phone or get TV beamed down to us from space or predict the path of hurricanes with much greater accuracy
Dialogue: 0,0:04:36.30,0:04:40.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Theword pixel in the concept of the first digital camera was also invented at JPL in the
Dialogue: 0,0:04:40.94,0:04:45.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,1960s when an engineer was trying to solve how to get pictures of the planets and send them back to earth
Dialogue: 0,0:04:45.98,0:04:47.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact there are nearly
Dialogue: 0,0:04:47.04,0:04:49.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,2,000 NASA technology spin-offs
Dialogue: 0,0:04:49.30,0:04:54.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We don't know what we don't know and so expecting NASA to justify its funding
Dialogue: 0,0:04:54.36,0:04:58.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But predicting all the amazing things it will discover would be like
Dialogue: 0,0:04:58.24,0:05:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Expecting Christopher Columbus when he was lobbying Queen Isabella for ships to predict the polio vaccine or Netflix
Dialogue: 0,0:05:07.16,0:05:13.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Of the 18 billion that NASA gets it's not like they're just putting that money on a rocket and launching it into space
Dialogue: 0,0:05:13.66,0:05:16.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Majority of that money goes towards the salaries of
Dialogue: 0,0:05:16.06,0:05:21.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Tens of thousands of some of America's most skilled workers and one of the counter arguments here is yeah
Dialogue: 0,0:05:21.33,0:05:23.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But why do we need the government to fund these programs?
Dialogue: 0,0:05:23.76,0:05:29.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why not let private companies do the innovating? Private space companies like SpaceX or Blue Origin are awesome
Dialogue: 0,0:05:29.92,0:05:31.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they play an important role
Dialogue: 0,0:05:31.27,0:05:39.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But they're incentivized to pursue technologies that will give them a return on investment like space tourism or asteroid mining or launching satellites for other
Dialogue: 0,0:05:39.32,0:05:40.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,organizations
Dialogue: 0,0:05:40.08,0:05:43.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there's just no incentive for a private company to invest in tracking and
Dialogue: 0,0:05:43.60,0:05:48.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Deflecting asteroids or investing in earth science missions like SMAP and then making the data
Dialogue: 0,0:05:48.52,0:05:53.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Available for free to anyone who needs it. So to recap for that less than half a penny from a dollar
Dialogue: 0,0:05:53.94,0:06:00.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Investment in NASA, not only do we improve life on Earth through projects like SMAP and protect ourselves against really catastrophic
Dialogue: 0,0:06:00.56,0:06:04.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Events and discover other incredible technologies to improve our lives along the way
Dialogue: 0,0:06:04.76,0:06:05.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the money to make all that happen
Dialogue: 0,0:06:06.14,0:06:12.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,goes back into growing the economy through the salaries of all the smart people doing their work. And my fifth and final reason why we
Dialogue: 0,0:06:12.32,0:06:19.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Should spend money on NASA even when we still have unsolved problems here on earth is perhaps the most important even if less concrete
Dialogue: 0,0:06:22.12,0:06:26.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Think it's captured best by what some call the most important picture ever taken
Dialogue: 0,0:06:26.68,0:06:30.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What you see here is the result of a 10-day exposure image from the Hubble Deep Space
Dialogue: 0,0:06:30.96,0:06:34.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Telescope with the exception of these three dots which are single stars
Dialogue: 0,0:06:34.66,0:06:41.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Every speck, smudge, and spiral you see in this image is a galaxy with hundreds of billions of stars
Dialogue: 0,0:06:41.66,0:06:43.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just like our own Milky Way galaxy
Dialogue: 0,0:06:44.16,0:06:52.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Most remarkably the field of view captured here is the darkest part of the night sky the size of Roosevelt's eye on a dime
Dialogue: 0,0:06:52.46,0:06:58.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Held at arm's length we send men to the moon and orbiters to Saturn and Rovers to Mars
Dialogue: 0,0:06:58.64,0:07:02.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not necessarily because there's some financial incentive or some quick payoff
Dialogue: 0,0:07:02.92,0:07:09.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're looking to exploit, but because as humans there are fundamental burning questions we're eager to answer
Dialogue: 0,0:07:09.52,0:07:15.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The first person to set foot on Mars is alive right now. They could be in junior high or high school
Dialogue: 0,0:07:15.42,0:07:19.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He or she could be watching this video right now
Dialogue: 0,0:07:19.46,0:07:24.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It could be you I feel that our continued exploration of space in all its forms
Dialogue: 0,0:07:24.28,0:07:29.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fills me with hope and inspires me to reach higher and makes me a better person
Dialogue: 0,0:07:31.40,0:07:35.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I want to thank Bill and Melinda Gates for teaming up with me on this video if you want to know why they think there's still a
Dialogue: 0,0:07:35.94,0:07:41.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Case for being an optimist in today's world even with all the negative headlines you should check out the Bill and Melinda Gates
Dialogue: 0,0:07:41.48,0:07:48.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Annual letter at gatesletter.com this optimism stems from facts like the number of children who die every year has been cut in half
Dialogue: 0,0:07:48.54,0:07:55.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so has extreme poverty declining by half in less than twenty years and more children are attending school now than ever before but we're
Dialogue: 0,0:07:55.40,0:07:58.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Optimistic not just because we know life used to be worse
Dialogue: 0,0:07:58.02,0:08:03.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's seeing the positive trend line of all the ongoing work by brilliant folks like at NASA and elsewhere
Dialogue: 0,0:08:03.04,0:08:07.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Who are working to improve life on Earth by solving some of the world's toughest challenges
Dialogue: 0,0:08:07.94,0:08:10.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I will leave a link to the letter in the video description