This is in response to Gene Gilbert’s letter, printed Jan. 31. I enjoyed the way he helped us understand physically how much $1 million, then $100 million really is. He went on to imagine how many people the money could provide with food, medicine, clothing and heat.

Gilbert’s dream turned to a nightmare when he woke and realized that NASA was “wasting” $100 million on the New Horizons mission to Pluto.

To put that project in prospective, and keeping with Gilbert’s spirit of understanding, consider the following:

There are 295 million people in the United States. The Pluto project cost $700 million over 16 years, that’s $43.75 million per year. Therefore the project costs less than 15 cents per American per year.

When we compare the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services budget of $500 billion, or $1,695 per American per year, and the cost of the project is not significant.

I support our country’s efforts to provide comfort, reduce suffering and give generously to those in need, as well as human achievement and scientific understanding.

The New Horizons Project will explore the best preserved portions of our 4.5 billion-year-old solar system. This project will give scientists a new understanding such that text books will need to be rewritten.

Our exploration of space is going to be something people will look back on as one of the most meaningful achievements of our civilization, just as we look back at the explorations of Columbus.

Adam Smith, Auburn