Posted on 08/26/2012 10:17:25 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Despite the news and pictures from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, America's once great space program is on life support because we no longer have a serious manned space exploration program....And the Obama Administration's unimaginative and amateurish vision for space exploration -- even if successful -- will not revive the dying program. It merely follows the disturbing pattern of the Solyndra scandal, funneling tax dollars to Obama donors and fundraisers.
[SNIP]
....SpaceX collects tax dollars so that it can learn how to build and develop something that other companies were doing a generation ago. It is curious that SpaceX is now receiving so much taxpayer cash given its stunningly thin record of success in space....even more troubling given that SpaceX's founder and CEO is a big-time Obama donor....
However, the problem with how the Obama Administration is pursuing its uninspiring and unimaginative space program goals goes well beyond picking donors to receive favorable contracts and guaranteed government cash with little accountability. Even if SpaceX accomplishes everything asked of it, it will not get us beyond low-Earth orbit. Simply stated, the Obama administration’s vision for space exploration is essentially to replace the hauling capability of the shuttle -- something that was developed more than 30 years ago. Beyond that, real space exploration is not a serious priority.
....NASA is transitioning from being a highly respected nonpartisan space exploration agency to just another arm of Obama’s political operation -- wasting tax dollars on friends, diminishing America's global leadership in space exploration, and ensuring that if we continue down this path, we will fall behind China, Russia, India, and others. This will have dire implications for our economy and national security. The Administration has been asked to correct course, but so far has refused to act.....
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
No, I actually think he cut it because there is a historical animosity between civil rights activists and NASA. When NASA, at the time a bunch of white men, were going to the moon, the civil rights crowd started using the phrase, "If we can put a man on the moon..." to redirect the attention NASA was getting on to their goals. The fact that the first black president, from that crowd, would cut NASA, and that's pretty much the only cuts he has made, is not surprising in a historical context.
I think they will be rated in a couple of years. As for taxpayer money, SpaceX is getting contracts just like any other contractors, Northrop Grumman, Lockeed Martin, etc. The decision to retire the shuttles was made, and it wasn't made by SpaceX. SpaceX seems to have the best plan to get us back into space, and unlike Lockeed or others, they seem to be more ambitious.
That is an error. Thank you for correcting. I was thinking of the $1Billion mentioned for Space X($200M from Musk) leaving the $800 MILLION.
Airlines and mail cargo had customers and a growing customer base. Add to that the difficulty — space launch/travel is not air travel.
Do you believe Space X (as well as Musk’s and his extended family’s other companies) is not getting special treatment from Obama’s administration?
Do you believe Musk is being honest when he says launch costs can be brought to a $500 cost per pound to orbit?
Simply: Why should the taxpayers subsidize his business?
So from your perspective - regardless of why - it is okay that our national space program is being dismantled?
And that you see Obama as pulling the plug on our national space program as a civil rights payback is interesting.
The idea of American exceptionalism and NASA is like hand in glove. Without a strong U.S. manned space program, America is diminished and the global playing field is leveled (John P. Holdren - Obama’s Science and Technology Adviser’s sentiment when explaining why it is better when the U.S. isn’t always number one).
If the Left succeeds in destroying the middle class (and thus the U.S. economy) where will Space X get their subsidies? By then there will be no national space program (human or infrastructure) left to put back together.
Because it reduces the cost to the taxpayers of servicing the ISS.
Why don't you complain about the money that Boeing is getting for exactly the same thing? Why do you hate SpaceX so much? It seems completely irrational.
Absolutely right on the money there!!!
Mostly satellite launching services...
These SpaceX folks got the market on the ISS resupply gig...
The Japanese had only 2-3 H-II type vehicles IIRC going up during the whole operational life of the ISS, ESA only have a handfull as well, the Russians have both the Progress vehicles AND the only PAX vehicle for the Nauts going up and down...
If SpaceX gets a man-rated vehicle going on their booster, that will become a boom for us, and give us more latitude to do things our way, and may end up being cheaper than giving the Russians 2-30 million for a seat up and down for our guys and gals...
Obama and his minions do not (and will NEVER) understand a single thing that goes into exploration/science and the spin off technologies that have come from OUR MANNED SPACEFLIGHT PROGRAM...
If you look at the early days of US aviation significant government funds were allocated for development of airplanes for the military as well as the establishment of an infrastructure for civilian use. Many of those government programs are still with us today.
I don’t have any idea if SpaceX is getting special treatment. You have to understand that they aren’t the only ones who competed in the COTS program. Out of the twenty companies the only other one to win a contract was Orbital Sciences Corporation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Orbital_Transportation_Services
They beat out Lockheed and Boeing who should have been given special treatment.
$500 per pound is a tough number to reach but with mass production of launch vehicles and their reusability I think it is possible.
To mass produce you need a mass market. That $500 number is not doable.
Hate?
Really NZS, you amuse me.
Until ISS goes the way of the Shuttle. And it will be awhile 'till they can (if they do) send humans. Even then there may be nothing to go to.
Satellite launch has many countries that compete for that business.
Best cost to orbit payload.
If they can’t deliver that then they will fail to compete.
Of course I would prefer we use American company’s over Soyuz to get to the ISS we built. But there will be competition there as well, many companys are working on ways to do that. Including Boeing if more traditional sources of spacecraft appeals.
Commercial always should be used when possible and profitable — and America needs to be in the running. We need to get something going again in space to get the ball rolling — and beyond LEO.
What have I posted that’s unfounded?
Very true. You do need a mass market. Bigelow Aerospace is planning on putting up inflatable hotels in LEO. That’s a beginning.
It will be a while before $500 can be realized but let’s see where the industry is in 10 years.
About a year ago..... “Bigelow Aerospace, which is developing inflatable space habitats for commercial use, laid off some 40 of its 90 employees Sept. 29, a company official confirmed.
Bigelow Aerospace employees told Space News that the company laid off nearly all of its machinists and that most of the workers retained are associated with the Boeing CCDev effort. Bigelow’s partnership with Boeing on the CST-100 predates Boeing’s 2010 CCDev award.
“We had hoped that by 2014 or 2015 that America would again be able to fly its own astronauts. Unfortunately, the prospect of domestic crew transportation of any kind is apparently going to occur years after the first BA 330 could be ready,” Gold wrote. “For both business and technical reasons, we cannot deploy a BA 330 without a means of transporting crew to and from our station, and the adjustment to our employment levels was necessary to reflect this reality.”
http://www.parabolicarc.com/2011/09/30/mass-layoff-at-bigelow-blamed-on-commercial-crew-delay/
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