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Sequester Cancels NASA Outreach
- aaronbrethorst 14y agoOn a related note, air travel this summer is going to suck. More so than usual: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/us/politics/ohare-tower-may-become-sequester-victim.html?hp&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/us/politics/ohare-tower-ma...
- anigbrowl 14y agoThat's pretty depressing.
- Uhhrrr 14y agoFrom the article: the cuts are "hitting where it hurts: in education and outreach". Is that really where it hurts for NASA? What about space exploration and research? Aren't those a little more important?
- nuclear_eclipse 14y agoWithout education and outreach, perhaps there won't be enough talented and engaged people to take part in designing, building, and operating the equiptment for space exploration?
- metric10 14y agoSure. The NASA Outreach Program. Teaching our kids how to design, build, and operate spaceships. Without it they're all going into liberal arts. Sorry, but I have a feeling education and science will survive the Sequestocalypse just fine. Although if we don't get the budget under control today, our kids won't have the money for space exploration in the future.
- HarryHirsch 14y agoOutreach is actually the most important part of NASA's budget - you must make a good case that it is a good idea to spend money on space research, and you must make the results available to the public. If you don't do the first bit there may not be more money in the future, politicians will put the cash elsewhere, and if you don't do the second part you have neglected your duty to the taxpaying public.
- Uhhrrr 14y agoBut if you don't do the 0th bit - shooting awesome rockets across the solar system and dropping rovers on distant planets* - lobbying would be useless. Do you really think this is debatable? What do you think NASA's outreach budget was in 1969? *and acting as cover for sending up military satellites, of course
- niggler 14y agoWeren't people trying to choke NASA before the sequester? Is the effect of the sequester more significant than previous efforts to slash NASA budget?
- adventured 14y agoThe sequester is a big sick joke. A bunch of toddlers are throwing tantrums in DC right now, trying to scare the public over big bad cuts. The truth is, America has a priority problem. We have more than enough money to spend. The toddlers in DC are used to getting their way and free spending like crazy (thus the trillion dollar deficits). Now they're being forced to make choices, and they're openly attempting to scare the public. The best example of the sequester con is the White House tours. It's a big lie that they can't keep it open, pure propaganda. The things we're free spending money on right now are disgusting. We have money to drone the planet and murder thousands of civilians, but not to hire teachers and fix bridges. We can keep Guantanamo open and spend money torturing people, but we can't keep our schools open. We can give the theocrats in Egypt lots of money, but we can't keep a simple NASA outreach program. We can spend a trillion dollars on the mostly pointless and highly dysfunctional F35 that will barely ever see action, but we supposedly can't keep the FAA operating at max capacity. Biden can spend a million dollars on one night hotel stays in Paris and London, but the White House has to cancel various Easter celebrations.
- niggler 14y ago"The toddlers in DC are used to getting their way and free spending like crazy (thus the trillion dollar deficits)" The great irony is that the party that was spending freely a decade ago is now talking about fiscal responsibility. "The things we're free spending money on right now are disgusting." I'm not partisan, but one party in particular is pushing for boosting the defense budget at the expense of the other priorities in this country.
- twoodfin 14y agoThe great irony is that the party that was spending freely a decade ago is now talking about fiscal responsibility. And the other party was constantly complaining that too much was being spent? No, just the opposite: They were clamoring for more, whether it was "state and local aid", a more generous Medicare Part D and CHIP, extended unemployment benefits, special education costs... The list goes on. And, by the way, the budget deficit in 2007 was, with two wars in full swing and all the Bush tax cuts in effect, a mere $158B. I'll take a party that at least sometimes talks and walks fiscal restraint over one that still thinks we're not "investing" enough with $1T annual deficits any day.
- riffic 14y agoI guess JPL isn't doing their open house this year =(
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- gmu3 14y agoI think it is worth mentioning that in addition to the $900 million in cuts required from the sequester since the sequester has gone into effect, Congress has proposed cutting their funding an additional $300 million this year. Therefore, pinning all this to the sequester seems a little unfair. http://www.app.com/article/20130321/NJNEWS17/303210108/Sequester-spending-bill-chop-NASA-funding http://www.app.com/article/20130321/NJNEWS17/303210108/Seque... Sadly I worry these cuts are more political than practical, but then again it just says the programs are being suspended until they are reviewed so hopefully they'll still come back and maybe some waste will be discovered in the process too.
- velodrome 14y agoI like how the decision makers say we need to grow out of our debt problems. Then they cut programs like this? Do they think we will actually grow with cuts to STEM education? The advent of the internet, biotechnology, hell...even proprietary trading. Almost all the recent growth cycles have been fueled by STEM. The decision makers are foolishly creating a massive technical debt.
- 3dptz 14y agoGuess that clears enough budget to buy more F35's. Because what future needs inspired engineers right?
- mchusma 14y agoDon't forget about a replacement for the M4: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-19/army-carbine-program-may-waste-1-8-billion-report-finds.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-19/army-carbine-progra... Obviously the F35 is more important though. Who honestly thinks the future of air warfare will be with drones. </sarcasm>
- protomyth 14y agoActually, given the program manager's comments and the Navy's sudden interest in F-18 improvements, the F-35 program looks like it will have large cuts.
- jurassic 14y agoThe sequester is serious business in science. A scientific workforce and the equipment they need must be maintained; it's not easy to ramp up or down capacity as demand and funding levels shift. The pipeline for an individual into a high-level science career is measured in DECADES. If you screw with funding levels for a few years you're blowing a gigantic hole into the side of your already-leaky pipeline. Science was a pretty lousy career choice before all this started, but these budget shenanigans will only drive the smartest and most capable young people out of science for better paid, less uncertain vocations.
- toufka 14y agoAbsolutely. As a grad student about to graduate from a prestegious biomedical institution I'm looking at no new grants for the next (few?) years. The NIH is likely zeroing any new grants in order to maintain current grants. Guess what industry I cannot graduate into! The upside I guess is that I will likely attempt to create my own company instead. A far riskier proposition. But I'm on the far end of the spectrum - few of my peers are doing that though - they're finding jobs in other industries.
- digitist 14y agoMust be pretty prestegious
- zeteo 14y agoMeh. NASA outreach sucks in any case. They manage to make space look boring - ever watched one of those conversations between middle schoolers and ISS crew? Just get the kids a few sci-fi books instead, you'll get a much more enthusiastic and motivated next generation of engineers.
- ANH 14y agoHave you ever watched a rocket launch on NASA TV? For me, it doesn't get much more thrilling than that. And I've seen some in person.
- zeteo 14y agoSo the coolest events on NASA TV are those in which the "outreach" people play no role and just let the cameras speak for themselves. I agree.
- ANH 14y agoI think you're being unfair. I don't know how large the crew is for those events, but I'd venture to say all would call themselves "outreach people". I take your point that a lot of what airs is not very good, but to throw all outreach efforts under the bus is uncalled for. Another outreach example that allows you to rove the same terrain as the Mars Science Laboratory: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/explore/freedrive/ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/explore/freedrive/ . I'd say this is pretty damn cool, and actually informative. The folks who do this work are rather nervous right now.
- danielweber 14y agoNASA outreach is tremendous bang for the buck. Remember, science isn't just so the scientists can learn. It's so the scientists can learn and then present their finding to the public. Of course, NASA didn't cut outreach because they carefully looked at their budget and decided this was the 1% that produced the least marginal value. They decided to cut outreach because it would generate public outrage. I think NASA's budget should be increased, FWIW, but I recognize when I'm being played.
- ericcumbee 14y agoGo to space, do cool things....outreach problem solved.
- kmfrk 14y agoCompromise: one-way missions to Mars for a select group of politicians.
- Apocryphon 14y agoIs it possible to create a Kickstarter for public sector services?
- Empact 14y agoYep, for a significant period of American History, a good bit of long-distance travel was over privately constructed and managed turnpikes. Their financing was very much in the Kickstarter model: "American turnpikes were stock-financed corporations seemingly organized to pay dividends, though acting within narrow limits determined by the charter. [F]or the American turnpikes the hope of dividends was merely a faint hope, and never a legal obligation. Odd as it sounds, the stock-financed "business" corporation was better suited to operating the project as a civic enterprise, paying out returns in use and esteem rather than cash." http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/Klein.Majewski.Turnpikes http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/Klein.Majewski.Turnpikes