Fund a mission to Mars, not a mortgage bailout

The U.S. wants to help struggling homeowners with a mortgage rescue plan that will cost some $75 billion. I don't know what the White House's mortgage rescue plan will accomplish, but I know what it won't do: It will not raise the U.S. standard of living. It may even hurt it.

What increases our standard of living is investment in science. Every great industry and technology advance is based on a scientific breakthrough. And today, it is the government that funds most of the scientific research. 

When IT companies, for instance,  talk about R&D investment they are describing product development research, and not the types of basic research that the National Science Foundation funds in direct grants to universities.

The nearly $800 billion federal stimulus plan does not neglect basic research. It includes billions of dollars for alternative energy and battery technology research. But this spending plan is uneven. The amount of money that may actually find its way into pure IT research, for instance, is much smaller.

The NSF and U.S. Department of Energy, which is also a major source of basic research funding, may spend as much as $350 million on IT-related research out the stimulus. That’s a back of the napkin figure from the Computing Research Association based on how NSF has divided up grant funding by disciplines in previous years.

Imagine if the U.S. were to take that $75 billion, now going to mortgages, and apply it in some other way, such as a mission to Mars. 
 
The research and thought required to pull this off would most likely help lead to breakthroughs in all kinds of technologies, from the use of solar power to robotics. Stepping on Mars is only a small part of the payoff.

If we’re going to spend $75 billion, let’s spend it on something that not only excites the imagination of our children but helps to build a future for them as well. Let's challenge our industry and research community to solve the many great problems associated with a mission to Mars.