A Surprising Set Of Stats -- From The Money We All Invest, In NASA...

It's important -- from time to time -- to take stock of all the less widely known ancillary benefits we derive, as a nation, from our collective efforts to explore space. [Especially with hard right GOP operatives in the US House now threatening another debt ceiling showdown, and resulting funding cuts.]

In that vein, I offer the following. Do recall that NASA's satellite systems are often instrumental, in locating, and saving ships lost at sea, and hikers lost in the wilderness, and people who've wrecked their cars, in often remote terrain, and cannot hike out to safety. Here's that story:

. . .In 2022, NASA-developed Search and Rescue technologies enabled rescue personnel to save 397 lives in the U.S. region. Since 1979, NASA has provided technical expertise to the Cospas-Sarsat program, the international satellite-aided search and rescue effort. This technical expertise has led to the development of multiple emergency location beacon types.

The international search and rescue effort enables hikers, boaters, pilots, and other explorers to activate location beacons should they become distressed or lost. Adventurers can utilize 406 MHz frequency Cospas-Sarsat beacons, which equip users with precise and reliable emergency location services. Upon activation, these beacons send signals to satellites in space, which then relay the distress signals to ground stations. This process allows the Cospas-Sarsat network to calculate their position anywhere in the world. The network then sends the location to first responders, who initiate rescue operations.

These beacons provide explorers with a sense of safety as they venture on land, air, and sea. . . .

So do keep that in mind, as we approach arguments in DC, over how and where we spend the taxpayers' funds -- and what all that entails, as policy tradeoffs. Onward -- smiling.

नमस्ते