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As a proponent of increased space exploration, it's awesome to see the emerging space race between China and India. NASA (a creature of Congress) has stagnated
by ckinnan 18y ago
As a proponent of increased space exploration, it's awesome to see the emerging space race between China and India. NASA (a creature of Congress) has stagnated US efforts by hanging on far too long to the failed and obsolete Shuttle platform as the centerpiece of our activities. A diversity of inexpensive US robotic programs are the way forward-- that plus lowering the regulatory and litigation barriers to increased private space launches in the US. It's tragic that we will waste $700 billion on a Wall Street bailout when that amount could send a man to Mars and create a permanent lunar base.
- josefresco 18y ago"failed and obsolete Shuttle platform" I wouldn't exactly say the Shuttle platform has failed. Nor would I argue that it's obsolete ... yet (although getting there fast).
- lacker 18y agoThe original idea that the Shuttle would be reusable and therefore cheap has not really succeeded.
- kirse 18y agoLet me get this straight... You want to spend $700bn exploring and trying to settle on some rocks in space when our own economy is bleeding itself to death? I'm not sure how you manage your priorities, but flushing $700bn down the space toilet when your country has a major economic crisis on its hands isn't quite the best use of $700bn either.
- DTrejo 18y agoIt could be that our current plan ends up "pissing 700bn into deep space" regardless.
- noonespecial 18y agoOne could argue that our economy is in the state its in because we lost sight of real innovation like space exploration and focused instead on trading little pieces of paper with each other that had imaginary money scribbled on them. Dollar for dollar, space exploration is some of the best money humanity has ever spent. I won't bore you guys again with teflon and velcro and rivet-less fuselages and all of the other wonders that manned space flight has brought to us. Google does that just fine, but have a think about it every once in a while.
- kirse 18y agoMy post, and the one I responded to, have absolutely NOTHING to do with the past and all the innovation space exploration brought us. You completely missed my point. Right now, given our current credit and debt crisis, space exploration (aka extraneous spending) should NOT be at the top of the list. Paying the bills needs to be the focus here, and while space exploration might be the "best money ever spent" as you claim, you might have forgotten that we don't have any money to spend right now.
- noonespecial 18y agoThat there is exactly the point. Its the "we don't have time to build a mill, we've got grain to grind" argument.
- sdurkin 18y agoI don't understand the "creature of Congress" slight. China and India both have government-controlled space programs, and they use far less subcontracting than we do.
- jmtame 18y agoentrepreneurs are always bailing the govt out. Elon musk is building all of NASA's rockets now.