The Olympics Cost 6x More Than The Mars Curiosity Mission
The two big story lines last week were the final competitions of the London Olympic games and the Curiosity mission’s landing on Mars. Tying those two stories together was this graphic which popped up on my feed reader:
I’ve checked and both figures are roughly accurate, and that’s really sort of stunning isn’t it? While the Olympics may be entertaining, they are a heavily-subsidized, celebrity-studded spectacle of nationalism that will ultimately result on a lot of moldering, wasted facilities and largely forgotten events.
The Mars mission, on the other hand, is laying the groundwork for years and perhaps decades of scientific advancement. Where the Olympics are largely a monument to the ego of governments, the Mars mission represents the furthest reach of human aspirations.
I’m not against the Olympics, but sometimes we have some strange priorities.
Tags: mars curiosity, olympics
