Launching NASA on a Path to Nowhere: Analysis (4 time shuttle astronaut rips Obama plan)

Popular Mechanics ^ | February 2, 2010 | Tom Jones

[Favor Center]

“Let the enthusiasts fund their own fantasies.”

While the Chinese conquer the solar system. Real smart there, Einstein.

[Kakaze]

Let the enthusiasts fund their own fantasies.

Nasa, has a budget imprint of one half of one percent of the budget ( this year ).

They asked to become .65 of one percent of the budget ( next year ), look at the return we have reaped for that money over the years, those are not fantasies.

[tet68]

I agree, freedom exists only on the frontier, it begins
to wilt under the shadow of government.

Also one must remember, if America will not lead,
someone else WILL.

Too, how long will it take for a private company
to meet the government man-rated criteria?

There are car companies all over the world that
make vehicles used by millions that are NOT
allowed here in the US. because they do not meet
the government standard.

As far as the NASA budget, it doesn’t even begin to
compare to Medicare and welfare fraud which is poured
down a rat hole every year.

[newgeezer]

While the Chinese conquer the solar system. Real smart there, Einstein.

For what purpose? (Here's where we get to hear about your fantasy.)

[GonzoGOP]

NASA should design missions, not hardware. Set out a criteria and see what industry can provide. Then pick the best design that fills the requirements and build it.

Some of the best designs the military has ever had were cases where industry provided what the military actually needed to do the mission, rather than what they were actually asking for. The Harrier (British gov wanted a supersonic aircraft), P-51 (Air Corps thought bombers didn't need escorts), Huey Cobra (Government design was overly complex, massively over budget, and hopelessly behind schedule), Bell H-13 (developed without Bell aircraft even knowing what the engineers were up to) were all privately funded designs much simpler than what the government designers were proposing, but which provided exactly what was needed.

If NASA wants to go to the moon put out a proposal for a craft carrying X individuals for X days to the moon. The winning design is to be paid XX million dollars and must fly in Y years. If nobody will bid on the job a XX million dollars then you obviously don't want to go badly enough and should just drop the project.

NASA will still need to test hardware to make sure it matches or exceeds the criteria provided. But testing experimental aircraft has been the job of NASA from back in the 1920s when they were called NACA. Since back then there was no such thing as a space program, manned or otherwise.

[Jim Noble]

Read the whole thing. Tom Jones is right!

Right how?

NASA has been on a path to nowhere since 1973.

Obama, in this case, has nothing to do with it.

Nixon's the one!

[newgeezer]

Nasa, has a budget imprint of one half of one percent of the budget ( this year ). They asked to become .65 of one percent of the budget ( next year )

Similar logic would have us believe the only thing wrong with the libs' favorite entitlement programs is that the total budget isn't big enough to make their programs a tiny piece of it.

look at the return we have reaped for that money over the years, those are not fantasies.

Assuming your premise is valid, where does the Constitution give the federal government the R&D role?

[Favor Center]

“For what purpose? (Here’s where we get to hear about your fantasy.)”

You can take your “fantasy” nonsense and shove it, Luddite.

There are resources and territory to be gained.

[newgeezer]

Einstein ... Luddite ...

Cute.

There are resources and territory to be gained.

LOL. Yeah, when we use up or have need to escape this planet, we'll be needing another one.

[Favor Center]

“LOL. Yeah, when we use up or have need to escape this planet, we’ll be needing another one.”

I’m sure some said the same thing about the New World. Frankly, I don’t like the idea of ceding resources like He3 and the high ground to our enemies.

Do you support the gutting of the DOD? It would make as much sense.

[Kakaze]

Without Nasa, geezer, you would not even have the computer your using to gripe on now.

Whether you like it or not the space program has given back to us more than we have invested in it......although I will concede we should have had bases and colonies on Mars and beyond by now.

As for the question you pose of Constitutionality, the gov't provides defense and I'll wager that when a china man starts throwing 5 ton stones at you from the moon, you will be first in line to ask why we are not protected.

Nasa, is a bargain and its budget is also a distraction. People yell and scream over it but allow the likes of obama to squander trillions on feel good programs.

[Names Ash Housewares]

“NASA has been on a path to nowhere since 1973.”

That “path to nowhere” has been the leading agency in space exploration for the entire globe.

Skylab, Shuttle, ISS, Hubble, Galileo, Cassini, Voyager, Viking, Spirit and Opportunity, on and on and on.

We have flown more astronauts and larger numbers then anyone on earth has and likely will for a quite some time.
We have perfected orbital construction tecniques, spacewalks, engineering life support and recyling abilities.

It all is valuable, no it is not footprints and flags, but it is experience building and it all matters twoards the future. Necessery experience and yes, it is time to get out of low earth orbit and head out.

NASA simply needs the dedication to direction over the long haul. Politics of course is about none of that.

[Names Ash Housewares]

“Obama has a broken clock moment on this one.”

Everyone is happy for commerical to get in the game.

However, it is only HALF the equation.

Obama has thrown the baby out with the bathwater!

[DungeonMaster]

I’m a big fan of unmanned space exploration as are many in the scientific community. It’s a matter of getting more than 10X bang for the buck..

[saganite]

LOL. Sometimes those who are closest to the issue fail to see the solution. LEO has not been exploited by the ISS. No one can afford to do any research there and NASA does very little. Bigelow is ready to open up LEO facilities to a variety of groups including other nations.

By the way, Bigelow is exploiting technology NASA had to abandon. They sold him the patents and rights and cooperated through the engineers who worked on the program at NASA. Some of those NASA engineers now work at Bigelow. VASIMR is another technology sold off to private investors because NASA couldn’t afford to continue with developing it. NASA couldn’t fund those programs, each of which was game changing, because the manned program absorbed the bulk of the funding.

As for going to the moon and Mars, if you consider LEO worthless (already explored) then why in heaven’s name do we need to rush back to the moon or mount a hugely expensive mission to Mars? Certainly robotics can continue to expand our knowledge of those bodies better than men for the foreseeable future. The only compelling reason I can see for going to Mars is the discovery of life there. Possible but unlikely.

[Favor Center]

“Bigelow is ready to open up LEO facilities to a variety of groups including other nations.”

That’s not exploration. Bigelow has launched an unmanned balloon to LEO using a Russian launch system. That’s a far cry from a manned facility.

“NASA couldn’t fund those programs, each of which was game changing, because the manned program absorbed the bulk of the funding.”

Transhab (inflatable modules) was canceled quite some time ago and WAS a manned program. VASIMR (the APL spinoff Ad Astra) is partly funded by NASA and testing on ISS will be paid for by NASA. Tech transfer like that has been a NASA mission from the beginning.

You do know that much of the development work done by “NASA” is actually done by contractors? You probably don’t, as you have no connection with the space and defense industries, do you?

“As for going to the moon and Mars, if you consider LEO worthless (already explored) then why in heaven’s name do we need to rush back to the moon or mount a hugely expensive mission to Mars? Certainly robotics can continue to expand our knowledge of those bodies better than men for the foreseeable future. The only compelling reason I can see for going to Mars is the discovery of life there. Possible but unlikely.”

So, you aren’t for “space exploration”. Got it. If we aren’t actually going to these places, it doesn’t matter much. You want to cede the last frontier to China.

[Names Ash Housewares]

I love our space probes success in the past and I wish for more in the future. Robotic explorers our are partner, not our substitute long term. They can do a great deal, but they cannot move human presence beyond earth.

They don’t name elementary schools after robots afterall.

[DungeonMaster]

They can do a great deal, but they cannot move human presence beyond earth.

A teen spending all his money on a grossly overpriced and over his head car will not be able to afford a house. Manned space programs are worse than a waste of money, they steal money from good unmanned programs. Even the phrase "Presence beyond earth" makes no sense.

[Names Ash Housewares]

"A teen spending all his money on a grossly overpriced and over his head car will not be able to afford a house. Manned space programs are worse than a waste of money, they steal money from good unmanned programs. Even the phrase "Presence beyond earth" makes no sense. "

What makes no sense?

Humam presence beyond earth..

Luar missions, lunar bases, crewed exploration of asteroids, martian moon and surface.

The nations that lead on the frontiers, dictate the course of human history.

Overpriced car for a teen? Dude. NASA is a TINY portion of the federal discretionary budget. TINY! The overpriced car is the mounstrous entitlement programs! More like a overpriced fleet of Porsche. LOL

Human spaceflight is the college degree for the human race! Or should we just keep working at McDonalds? LOL

[DungeonMaster]

Luar missions, lunar bases, crewed exploration of asteroids, martian moon and surface.

What is the point of any of these things? What is the cost to benefit ration?