[anymouse]

The only thing I agree with you on, is that development of faster propulsion technology should be a primary objective of interplanetary exploration. In a graduate Mission Design course at UCLA back in the late 1980s, I actually made demonstration of radically faster interplanetary propulsion (nuclear-electric powered ion thrusters) the prime objective of a Saturn mission. The science payloads and probes were secondary mission objectives.

Of course the most important priority is radically reducing the cost of launch. If you figure that out, you can do a whole lot more exploring for much less cost. Until then, we are all just fighting over what scraps of science that can be obtained by pouring billions into NASA’s futile bureaucratic efforts.

[sig226]

And instead of funding it, we’re going to spend 2.4 billion a year to figure out how to haul four years worth of food to Mars and back.