Outa the way NASA. Here comes the Air Force - Space Plane

That's one ugly space plane...

 

Didnt find anywhere else to put this...

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/04/15/science/AP-US-Obama-Space.html?_r=1&hp

Obama plans to start privatizing the space Industry.

Obama said he was ''100 percent committed to the mission of NASA and its future.'' He outlined plans for federal spending to bring more private companies into space exploration following the soon-to-end space shuttle program.

The Obama space plan relies on private companies to fly to the space station, giving them almost $6 billion to build their own rockets and ships. It also extends the space station's life by five years and puts billions into research to eventually develop new government rocket ships for future missions to a nearby asteroid, to the moon, to Martian moons or other points in space. Those stops would be stepping stones on an eventual mission to Mars itself.

 

Our socialist president at work...

 

Most space ships are made by private contractors anyway.

 

I think we're ready for increased privatization of space travel. It just needs to be highly regulated for a lot of safety reasons. I think space is one of those great examples of where the groundwork has to be laid by government, because it's too big of a risk with too long a window on return to entice private entities to enter the market, and where once government has built up a certain base of experience and technology, can "prime the pump" by driving the marketplace.

And the USAF has had an eye on space for a long, long, long time. They've had a Space Command since 1982, and had space operations for a lot longer than that.

 

Bush's plan to return to the moon was a very good plan and realistic from an engineering point of view. I supported that plan 110% it was one of the good things the Bush administration did. I'm very angry that Obama changed the goal. NASA needs STABLE long term goals; it cannot be changing direction every time we get a new president. Obama's plans should be called "Lost in Space" since it has no destination, no direction, no conviction. Regard space exploration we are a country that has lost is backbone, and Obama is to blame.

 

The administration certainly doesn't have a cohesive strategy on it. And if the last couple of years have been any indication, if Obama cares about something, generally, he's come up with a complex approach to dealing with it...

Which leads me to conclude: Neither Obama nor anyone in his inner circle really cares that much about space exploration, relative to his other agendas.

 

Bush found Space in his second term after it was clear he was running out of gas on more substantive issues.

If and when Obama formulates a plan for space exploration, I hope it keeps moving things in the smaller, cheaper, less manned direction. The bang for the buck is just way better than putting a man on mars, however exciting that sounds.

 

IMHO, We spend too much on defense, and not enough on space exploration. Building a moon base should be our next goal. We should be learning to live off the resources on the moon. In the long run - 100+ years out - we should be trying to move our dirty polluting industires out into space. It would be a great place to mine metals and process chemicals that are not friendly to Earth's ecosystem. It is also much easier to bring stuff down to Earth from space than going in the other direction.

The same technologies we use now for the Mars Rover and military drones could easily be used to build mining equipment on the moon. We just need to get there first.

 

+1

But I'm miffed that he couldn't just keep the same goal and plan. It was a good plan and a good goal. Obama doesn't need to change everything, and the Bush administration (as reluctant some people here are to say it) do some things right.

 

Agree. I want us moving our industries to the moon, before we do a one shot manned trip to Mars. It should be a balanced manned/robotic effort though. The robots do the work, but humans will be needed to fix things that break and deal with the unexpected.

 

With regards to manned space exploration, we are a country that has lost our backbone. Sometimes things worthwhile are risky.

 

Sure but NASA budget is 2% of the defense budget. If we gave just the increases in the defense budget (3% this year) we could almost triple NASA's budget.

If we took the money that gave to Israel and gave it to NASA instead it would increase NASA budget by more than 50%. That would fund this easily.

I want to stop the welfare checks to Israel, which really has not interest in peace anyway, and give that money to NASA instead.

 

But that’s where our future lies, isn’t it? Theoretically generations past us will be living among the stars; is there any reason to delay?

The problem is there hasn’t been anything the space program has done to really excite the public since….well, the late 60s. While there have been some great advancements in knowledge and technology since then, nothing has come close to creating an impact like seeing someone walk on the moon. If you ask the average American to give any information on significant events in the space program since then, the only two they’d probably know are the Challenger and Columbia disasters. If the most memorable events people remember in recent history are arguably the two worst moments in your program, you need to do something to change that. Sending probes to other planets and into deep space is great, but it won’t come close as the impact of seeing someone walking on another planet.

I imagine we’ll get interested in sending a man to the moon (in a government funded project) around the time China is about ready to do the same. Would we beat them at that point? Who knows.

 

No, it isn't. Space is horribly inhospitable to humanity. It wants to kill people in quick ways and in slow ways, and provides almost nothing we need to live. The future of humanity is completely tied to Earth.

You can wait until technology makes something that is extremely difficult right now into something that is easier. I'm not holding my breath.

That's because space is boring. The idea of walking on the moon is cool, but once you are up there it is pretty boring. It's just picking up rocks and pooping into diapers. That's why people started tuning out after the first couple Apollo missions. And that's why we stopped going to the Moon - once the cool runs out, there is no other reason to be there.

The Federal budget is too big. It needs cutting. The only thing that the majority of people in the US agree can be cut is NASA. It has to begin there.

 

That money is spent on other, to you, foolish things does not mean that it is there for you to take for your pet project. There are thousands of other programs that money could be spent on (schools, universities, health care, energy research, agriculture...) or not spent at all to reduce the deficit. And that's even if you could convince the Israel lobby to give it up, which isn't possible.

You have to justify the money spent on your particular program, and there just isn't a good justification for sending people into space.

 

Throughout our history humans seem to keep attempting to expand their civilizations and explore what's beyond the horizon. When they met oceans, they built boats. This is just the next step. It possibly could be the most difficult step yet, but to think we as a society would be content to just stop here and spend the rest of our species existence on our lone little planet...I don't buy it.

 

Humanity is in the process of destroying the Earth right now. We have to leave in the next millennium or else we will destroy the planet for all the other species.