Letters to the Editor: Moon missions are great, but the planet we live on is dying

Los Angeles Times Opinion
Sun, August 27, 2023 

A rocket carrying Chandrayaan-2, India's second lunar exploration mission, lifts off from Sriharikota, India, in 2019. (Associated Press)

To the editor: It’s mind-boggling to me that with all the climate change problems this world is facing for the foreseeable future, countries such as the United States, China, Russia, India and others are wasting time, brainpower and money on missions to the moon and Mars. ("'India is now on the moon': A shoestring budget and can-do attitude equaled a cosmic success," editorial, Aug. 24)

For what? So that we can send a few astronauts to walk around and kick up dust? And by the way, further pollute our atmosphere from the exhaust of all those rockets?

There are also private companies spending vast sums and polluting the atmosphere so that a few wealthy people can experience a few minutes or even less of weightlessness, while hundreds of thousands of Americans are homeless.

All those billions of dollars and great brainpower should be solely focused on technologies that provide non-polluting jet planes, shipping vessels, cars, trucks and trains. And we should be focusing on technologies that can actually clean our polluted air.

Herb Adelman, Del Mar

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To the editor: It's wonderful that India's Chandrayaan-3 project was able to successfully land on the moon given a relatively paltry $74-million budget. The keys to India's success should be studied by engineering and space exploration programs worldwide.

But I think it's disingenuous to simply state how those scientists and engineers are able to do more with far less than their U.S. counterparts without questioning the amount of money that the individuals involved make.

For example, what's the income differential between a NASA engineer's salary versus that of the CEOs who supply the parts for NASA spacecraft?

While the U.S. space exploration budget may be bloated compared to that in India, we should be asking in which direction that bloat occurs. Frugality is only "wise" when the excess isn't just going to a handful of overseers at the top.

Matthew Neel, Sherman Oaks

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.