r/YUROP Verhofstadt fan club Jul 22 '20

European Galactic Republic Fellow Europeans, let's make ESA more popular than NASA

/r/esa/comments/ggejmd/fellow_europeans_lets_make_esa_more_popular_than/
Upvotes

107 comments sorted by

u/Kikelt Yuropean‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

For that we should triple the budget...

u/DimlightHero Jul 22 '20

In terms of accomplishments sure. In terms of cultural significance all you'd need to do is bin your NASA branded tees and caps and buy something that launches from closer to home.

Wanting it to become a larger part of this union starts at getting it to the forefront of people's minds.

u/existential_plant Jul 23 '20

For that Esa needs a better logo, I hate the E logo in front of the word esa, it just looks weird and uninspiring. But besides that there merch is top quality, their "space is our middle name" collection is quite cool.

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '20

How cool is that! Nice! Thanks a lot!

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '20

The t-shirt and hoodie arrived today! They are awesome. Thanks again!

u/eqyliq Jul 22 '20 edited Jul 23 '20

Those look pretty nice but those pricetags :(

u/Rerel France‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ Jul 23 '20

That website is horrible, as soon as you go on the ecommerce website you get asked your email, then a massive pop up about shipping cost is displayed.

User experience is important if you want ESA to beat those fuckers of NASA.

u/TheVenetianMask Comunidad Valenciana‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

Just let's avoid all the NASA pork with rockets that never happen.

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '20

That sounds like a better way to spend money than a big expensive modern army..

u/kwasnydiesel Jul 22 '20

yurop unfortunately needs an army

u/jamesgilvarry1 Jul 22 '20

The esa only gets €7 billion, imagine what it could do it twice or three times that, and considerng most northern European states have multi billion budget surpluses we only need to little bits from a lot of countries to really boost the budget. And think economic opportunities space probably has that we just don't khow of yet

u/Garfae Jul 22 '20

Very kind of you to spend other country's surpluses.

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '20

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u/Steinson Yuropean‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

Running a constant deficit is much worse, since that will always eventually lead to some kind of economic crisis and more often than not results in taking loans to pay off other loans.

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '20

[deleted]

u/Garfae Jul 22 '20

Yes, southern economies needed help because their surpluses were too large.

u/LXXXVI Slovenija‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

Nope, southern economies are needing help AGAIN help because they followed the northern approach during the last recession, which fucked them over so badly they couldn't recover properly.

Also, running both import/export and budget surpluses and keeping the value of the common currency optimized for northern needs is literally screwing over other nations in the same trade area, yes.

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u/Steinson Yuropean‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

Depends on how much, if the economy is growing the government should be running a surplus, if it is in a recession it may run a deficit, that's just basic economics. The important part is not having too much deficit too long so the debt becomes unmanageable which it has become in some countries like Japan.

Of course you could always say it's more complicated, but in general having a very slight surplus is better than a deficit.

u/LXXXVI Slovenija‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

If you have a surplus, there's a good chance you can invest it into something with a good ROI.

Wasting tax income on essentially buying votes is bad. But if you have extra money, at least do something like Norway is doing with the SWF.

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u/jamesgilvarry1 Jul 22 '20

I mean I'm just saying the fundings there

u/massimog1 Yuropean‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

We need both. :)

u/kwasnydiesel Jul 23 '20

at least we've got ESA already!

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '20

at least.

And fund more private enterprises to build the infrastructure we need.

u/BriefCollar4 Yuropean‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

What are we supposed to do?

Puff out our chests and shout “ESA!”?

Ok.

ESA! ESA! ESA!

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '20

Vote for parties that are pro European collaboration or even pro federation. Those would found space flight more.

That’s what you should do.

u/BriefCollar4 Yuropean‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

I’m doing that and to be honest ESA is sadly not a priority when voting.

u/Maschini Yuropean‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

Just a quick reminder that ESA is not actually part of the EU. So voting on the European level is in this case probably not really the right thing. One should look what national parties of the ESA member states support Space Exploration.

Just as a general PSA.

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '20

Yes, ESA isn’t part of the EU in that sense. But it very well could be if it would be wanted by the EU and it’s member states.

So Voting for a party that would do that can have an effect.

u/Hank_035 Jul 22 '20

Gonna shamelessly plug my political party VOLT here. First pan European political party in existence, hopefully the first of many. Pragmatic, progressive and pan-european.

Check out volteuropa.org and all our social media accounts for more information!

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '20

I was about to promote them a few times here. But I didn't want to violate any unspoken rules or smth.

Definitely my first choice for next elections. Voted for them in the EU elections last year too. Best choice out there, if you want a united Europe without the pesky national interests getting in the way of true democratic unification.

u/herohead06 Jul 22 '20

The only pro european parties in denmark, i dont agree with their domestic politics

u/Hank_035 Jul 22 '20

Did you check out the new pan-european political party Volt?

www.voltdanmark.org

u/herohead06 Jul 22 '20

Thank you i will follow them and se how it evolves👍

u/Eurovision2006 Euróghael Jul 23 '20

Is Radikale Venstre really the only true pro-European party?

u/herohead06 Jul 23 '20

Sadly yes.

u/cdot5 Jul 22 '20

Gotta take one for the team

u/herohead06 Jul 22 '20

Nope, sry guys

u/Anders_1314 Yuropean‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

Works for me

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '20

ESA hooligans VS. NASA hooligans. NASA doesn’t stand a chance

u/TheVenetianMask Comunidad Valenciana‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

They have the best hoodies. I need to order more, the one I got is super comfy and good quality for the price.

u/jamesgilvarry1 Jul 22 '20

What's the website you can buy them off?

u/TheVenetianMask Comunidad Valenciana‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

u/Wentthruurhistory Jul 23 '20

That does look comfy. No shipping to the US though. Anyone flying into Dallas, Texas want to bring me one?

u/existential_plant Jul 23 '20

If you really want one you can use a service like this, never used this one before. But I use a similar service when I want to order stuff from the US.

u/Wentthruurhistory Jul 26 '20

Thank you. That honestly makes it beyond affordable for my current situation. Maybe next year I’ll be in a better place.

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '20

In honor of my homeboy Pluto i think i might order his hoodie from ESA.

u/TareasS Jul 22 '20

I dream of a moment in which we are the first to land on a planet, like mars, and plant the European flag on its soil while the world watches :)

u/jamesgilvarry1 Jul 22 '20

Stop I can only get so excited

u/unoriginalsoup I miss you EU :( 🇬🇧🇪🇺 Jul 22 '20

I live for the chance that we’ll see the European flag planted on Europa

u/FrancisBitter Yuropean‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

Perfection.

u/54108216 Italia‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

Keep going I’m almost there

u/DunoCO United Kingdom‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 23 '20

Ideally not. If our Martian and Lunar colonies are to be successful they must be independent from Earther influences. No earth nation should be allowed to own territory offworld and no earth nation should be allowed to claim offworld territory.

u/TareasS Jul 23 '20

Yeah but the USA would never agree with that I think.

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '20

[deleted]

u/TareasS Aug 12 '20

Yeah. And they really have a good track record honoring treaties....

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '20 edited Jan 21 '21

[deleted]

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '20

[deleted]

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '20

My NASA hoodie bought at Kennedy Space Center is made in China so there is that.

u/Hank_035 Jul 22 '20

ESA really needs a more commercially appealing logo like nasa has.

u/barsoap Schleswig-Holstein‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 23 '20

The logo is fine, it's just that the e is double.

u/caribbean_caramel Uncultured Jul 22 '20

For that the ESA need to develop its own crewed spaceflight program, with an european spacecraft. That or somehow bring Roscosmos to the ESA (maybe with a coup in Russia to put a pro-european leader in the Kremlin?)

u/Dambuster617th Northern Ireland/Tuaisceart Éireann‏‏‎ Jul 22 '20

I feel like a good coup in russia would help Europe out for a lot of other things too

u/RainbowSiberianBear Deutschland‎‎‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

Or Fallout: New Europe lol

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '20

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u/pizzamanloyalsevernt Jul 23 '20

Changing leader of foreign nations for "their own good". How very European of you

u/RainbowSiberianBear Deutschland‎‎‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

I have always said that we needed ESAR / RESA. However, there are currently two problems: a lack of will due to the political situation and the sanctions that prevent import of space technologies to Russia. No particularly pro-EU government needed, though - e.g. ISS is still doing fine even now.

u/Iwilldieonmars Jul 22 '20

Does it have to be a competition? And it's not going to happen as long as ESA has no manned launch capability.

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '20

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u/[deleted] Jul 22 '20
  1. If I'm not mistaken, the last space shuttle went up in 2011.

u/Iwilldieonmars Jul 22 '20

True, but they always had plans. ESA has none.

u/Maschini Yuropean‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

That isn't actually completely true. Some time ago I looked into it and and what we know today as the Columbus Laboratory on the ISS is an artifact of a planned and canceled European space station (The Columbus Project). Other Artifacts of that project include the ATV and the MPLM.

I even think that Ariane 5 is human spaceflight certified, to carry the then planned Hermes Shuttle), but I could be wrong on that one.

u/Iwilldieonmars Jul 22 '20

Oh I didn't mean there never was anything, just that there is nothing now. The US side has always had something in the pipeline as the previous vehicle has been retired. And none of those European projects ever went anywhere beyond initial stages, expect perhaps the CSTS collaboration as the Russians have used some of the results of that project on their own manned spacecraft after the collaboration ended. The European side is dead afaik.

Not sure if they ever bothered to certify the Ariane 5, just that it was supposed to be the launch vehicle.

u/Adrian31760 Jul 22 '20

Competition would be great, that would mean faster development, just like under the Cold War. If there weren’t any space race, I don’t think we would have landed on the moon at all.

u/Blitcut Jul 23 '20

Competition is useful to get politicians to funnel money towards space exploration but it's not particularly useful to speed up development if the funds are already there.

People working with space exploration are for the most part plenty motivated already and wouldn't need competition to motivate them. In this case competition instead of cooperation can slow down development as people become much less likely to share with each other so they can keep their edge.

u/_Miki_ Jul 22 '20

New name proposals:

  • Space Invincible Armada
  • Space Vikingeskibets
  • ...

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '20

ESA should make more merch like NASA does with H&M.

u/MaFataGer YUROP Jul 22 '20

Maybe just with a better brand with less exploitation, Id love that and Id buy some immediately!

u/jooniverse_ Jul 22 '20

I was going to say this!

u/F4Z3_G04T Yuropean‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

Or start with a good logo

The worm is just too good, fight me

u/ConanTehBavarian Jul 22 '20

Count me in

u/existential_plant Jul 22 '20

Yeah we can do that... or we can stop with those silly competitions and explore the universe together with our allies. Like we are doing with the Artemis program.

u/liberal_german_guy Jul 22 '20

European moon colony with independent brewery for the sole purpose of satisfiyinfJean-Claude

u/VicenteOlisipo Yuropean‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 22 '20

Finding this on reddit while I'm wearing my ESA t-shirt felt kinda good, must admit

u/UriSleseus Jul 22 '20

Step one is gonna have to be to get a better logo than NASA

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '20

Well, ESA landed on a comet. That's badass enough.

u/rafgro Jul 22 '20

That's right, when everyone has NASA hoodies, we should invest in ESA hoodies. I can recommend that one, fine quality: https://www.esaspaceshop.com/eu/hoesm01nb.html

u/kuzan1998 Jul 23 '20

I guess we could start a conspiracy theory centered around ESA instead of NASA for a change

u/CitoyenEuropeen Verhofstadt fan club Jul 23 '20

Wouldn't work. ESA actually being a cover-up for selling drugs to aliens has been well documented already.

u/kuzan1998 Jul 23 '20

What if that's what they want you to think tho?

u/barsoap Schleswig-Holstein‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 23 '20

Can we start by making a campaign to stop the ESA using "eesa" as logo.

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u/Lothken Jul 22 '20

As an American I want ESA to be more popular than NASA frankly

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '20

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u/Wentthruurhistory Jul 23 '20

Some Americans think it’s cool to bash the US regardless of why, and this is an excellent example of such oikophobia, which is a word I just learned but it is one I foresee that I will be using quite a bit.

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '20

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u/Wentthruurhistory Jul 23 '20

I appreciate that voices like yours are starting to be heard over the cacophony of those stricken with oikophobia, mostly as you say, to be edgy. Today seems to be a day for lexicology for me. I made a comment earlier today where I coined a new phrase that I believe is also one that could be used quite often. Someone was confused about the phrase “smooth brained” so o explained that it’s the Slur Du Jour. With the election right around the corner, I can see both of these terms being useful, so I wanted to share them with you. Thanks for being a rare good example of kindness and logic on Reddit!

u/DunoCO United Kingdom‏‏‎ ‎ Jul 23 '20

It's time for a Yurop on Mars! I propose settling the Hellas Planitia and the Elysium Planitia, as well as some land in between (such as Tyrrhenum, Iapygia, Terra Cimmeria, Hesperia Planum, Promethei Terra, and Aeolis).