AP-NORC poll: Asteroid watch more urgent than Mars trip
Americans prefer a space program that focuses on potential asteroid impacts, scientific research and using robots to explore the cosmos over sending humans back to the moon or on to Mars, a poll shows.
The poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, released Thursday, one month before the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, lists asteroid and comet monitoring as the No. 1 desired objective for the U.S. space program. About two-thirds of Americans call that very or extremely important, and about a combined 9 in 10 say it's at least moderately important.
The poll comes as the White House pushes to get astronauts back on the moon, but only about a quarter of Americans said moon or Mars exploration by astronauts should be among the space program's highest priorities. About another third called each of those moderately important.
"More than 80% say the United States is not leading the world in space exploration."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Monday June 24 2019, @11:08AM
If you concentrate humans into these places, it should lower environmental impact per capita (less need for personal transportation) and keep the hurt away from the countryside (farming excluded). If they are less stable than country folk, then that would cause them to kill each other, which slightly contributes to your population goal.
As for psychological problems, they can strap on a VR headset and be instantly transferred to a pristine, hardwood forest-filled Arkansas.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]