NASA Lost the Right Stuff?
The Hubble is down, the Shuttles are due to retire and we'll be hitching rides from the Russians to get to the IIS that the US taxpayer has had to primarily pick up the tab for. We are years away from getting back the Moon, something we did almost 40 years ago and have not been able to repeat and are no where near close to doing again. When we get there we'll likely be greeted by the Chinese, Indians and Japanese. The Orion spacecraft is also years away and may not ever get fully funded. There have been a few robotic successes but they don't really capture the imagination of most people. So, has NASA lost it? Will it ever be anything like it once was? What do we see as the future of this once great agency that is decline? NASA seems to have become a mature Bureaucracy, it has become primarily a jobs program and a drain on the tax payers, no real accomplishments, no real plans, a very uncertain future. I saw this article in USA Today. Unfortunately I agree with the http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2008-09-30-nasa-analysis_N.htm Like so many thing these days, how do we fix NASA? Robert Taylor
On 30 Sep 2008, at 19:01, Robert Taylor wrote:
The Hubble is down, the Shuttles are due to retire and we'll be hitching rides from the Russians to get to the IIS that the US taxpayer has had to primarily pick up the tab for...
In case misery loves company, here's something that appears in the current issue of "Planetary Report": +++++ The problems with the NASA budget pale in comparison with those being experienced in Russia. Despite similar scope and some recent increases to the Russian space program, its annual budget is less than 10 percent of that of the United States: $1.3 billion compared with about $17 billion. An article in Pravda bitterly commented, "Russia, the world's first space power, lags behind not only the USA, but such newcomers to the industry as the European SPace Agency, China, Japan, and France. The space agencies of these countries spend about $3.5 billion a year on space exploration. India currently invests a little less than $1 billion in its space programs. It is not ruled out that the Asian country will outstrip Russia soon." +++++
Capitalism is what made our country great -- not programs run by the government (like NASA). When space travel and exploration becomes a money-maker and not a money-taker it will start attracting private industry. Once that happens, I'd wager we'll see huge advances in the field. On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 8:52 PM, Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com>wrote:
On 30 Sep 2008, at 19:01, Robert Taylor wrote:
The Hubble is down, the Shuttles are due to retire and we'll be hitching rides from the Russians to get to the IIS that the US taxpayer has had to primarily pick up the tab for...
In case misery loves company, here's something that appears in the current issue of "Planetary Report":
+++++ The problems with the NASA budget pale in comparison with those being experienced in Russia. Despite similar scope and some recent increases to the Russian space program, its annual budget is less than 10 percent of that of the United States: $1.3 billion compared with about $17 billion.
An article in Pravda bitterly commented, "Russia, the world's first space power, lags behind not only the USA, but such newcomers to the industry as the European SPace Agency, China, Japan, and France. The space agencies of these countries spend about $3.5 billion a year on space exploration. India currently invests a little less than $1 billion in its space programs. It is not ruled out that the Asian country will outstrip Russia soon." +++++
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-- Julie Chorley
"When we get there we'll likely be greeted by the Chinese, Indians and Japanese." Or maybe McDonald's. SpaceX wants to do it; see http://www.spacex.com/. They are building the Falcon 9 human rated launch vehicle for trips to the space station and eventually interplanetary satellite missions. I think we will never see substantial space exploration unless it becomes commercially viable. -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+djcolton=piol.com@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+djcolton=piol.com@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Robert Taylor Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 7:02 PM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] NASA Lost the Right Stuff? The Hubble is down, the Shuttles are due to retire and we'll be hitching rides from the Russians to get to the IIS that the US taxpayer has had to primarily pick up the tab for. We are years away from getting back the Moon, something we did almost 40 years ago and have not been able to repeat and are no where near close to doing again. When we get there we'll likely be greeted by the Chinese, Indians and Japanese. The Orion spacecraft is also years away and may not ever get fully funded. There have been a few robotic successes but they don't really capture the imagination of most people. So, has NASA lost it? Will it ever be anything like it once was? What do we see as the future of this once great agency that is decline? NASA seems to have become a mature Bureaucracy, it has become primarily a jobs program and a drain on the tax payers, no real accomplishments, no real plans, a very uncertain future. I saw this article in USA Today. Unfortunately I agree with the http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2008-09-30-nasa-analysis_N.htm Like so many thing these days, how do we fix NASA? Robert Taylor _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://gallery.utahastronomy.com Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com
participants (4)
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Don J. Colton -
Julie Chorley -
Patrick Wiggins -
Robert Taylor