NA$A?........
"What Won't Nasa Invent Next?"
A profit?
Yes, I'm afraid it's largely true. NASA did a pretty good job in the early years, but it's been quite a long time since they did anything very useful, aside from pushing back the frontiers of astronomy with the space telescope and exploration of the planets. And the best of that now seems to be past, too.
On the other hand, we do still hold the high ground from a military point of view, and we had better continue to do so. The Russians and Chinese understand the importance of space superiority, and are still determined to challenge us.
There is clearly a commercial use and therefore an economic drive to develop satellites. But it's not clear whether there will be that much of a drive to get out and claim the planets or develop tourism in space, unless things get cheaper. I'm not sure that you can say that NASA is blocking progress in these areas simply by existing, because they are doing so badly that they really don't offer any competition to anyone who can figure out a way of going past them.
NASA is given its task and its funding by Congress, and Congress is where commentary should be directed. The article of this thread should be directed to the circular file.
I proposed that the ISS be converted into a Space University. Not like the one in Stassburg but like the one in Clarke's Island in the Sky.
Imagine if you announced that students could compete for a scholarship to study in Space. Think our math and science score might soar? The Space Shuttle would be modifided, painted Yellow and would become the Space University School Bus!!
My hidden agenda is to wrest control of space from NASA and pass it on to the business community where entrepreneurial spirit, which has been and will always be , UPLIFTING, (obvious pun intended).
NASA used to be superb at nurturing new technologies (such as the means for using photominiaturization to create computer chips) by promising to buy whatever the company could produce for its own research and use.
Since the tax incentive for pure R&D disappeared in the Carter Admin, companies rarely go to NASA and say "I have a widget, and I don't know what to do with it." If it doesn't answer an immediate need, companies won't mess with it, and many good ideas get left on the drawing board.
i think the article is a bit harsh. i'd be first in line claiming NASA is a bloated bureaucracy that wastes money, that said, I think they have a remarkable record of achievements, most recently the Mars rovers that, like the Duracell bunny just run and run and run (with a little help from the martians who dust off the solar panels every once and a while)