Comments on: Mars exploration in trouble?

By: Jon H

Jon H — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 04:17:25 +0000

Bah, the Man-on-Mars boondoggle was never meant as anything but a snipe hunt, a politically digestible way of slashing funding for space-based Earth science. Rather than blatantly cutting programs that aren’t compatible with corporate interests, just reallocate their funding into some decades-long project that will never come to fruition.

By: brad

brad — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:43:46 +0000

The spending on the space stuff is so out of control. if you cant get some good science done re: mars for nearly 1/2 a billion dollars, you might need to rethink the methodologies and spending practices.

By: Jeffersonian

Jeffersonian — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:20:30 +0000

Well, you can’t run up trillions in debt and then expect an age of well-funded space exploration to magically arrive. How would you convince people that taxes should be increased to cover the space program above and beyond that owed on the debt? The Democratic Party is in damage control mode. Spending simply can’t go on forever before the bills are due.

By: KaiYeves

KaiYeves — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 20:45:30 +0000

Swiper, no swiping!

By: B. Dewhirst

B. Dewhirst — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:45:18 +0000

I agree manned space exploration is an undue waste of funds, by the way… and I suspect -scientists- will agree, hence the peer review process of proposals.

By: B. Dewhirst

B. Dewhirst — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:44:09 +0000

What we need here is a healthy dose of peer review. Have Congress cough up a flat budget, inflation adjusted, over a 10-20 year period… perhaps with subsequent add’l funding to specific projects etc.

Then, allocate funding requests by the peer review process.

Keep Congress out of it as much as possible, and keep business out of it as much as possible.

By: Gary Mcleod

Gary Mcleod — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:35:09 +0000

When Bush junior first made his announcement that NASA would return to the Moon and go to Mars, I honestly fell into a state of deep despair and told all my friends that this really means he will dramatically slash the budget and there definately will NOT be manned missions to these bodies, as GWB was pulling the exact same stunt his father did in the 80’s, creating a public impression he was in favour of space science, when in fact he is utterly opposed to it. I really hate to be proved right in this case, but it’s just like the WMD fiasco, with GWB demanding the Iraqis prove a negative.

As Max Headroom once said:

Q: How can you tell when a politician is lying?
A: Their lips move.