NASA’s Alan Stern addresses Mars concerns

I meant to post this the other day, but maybe waiting worked out well: at a recent science conference, NASA Associate Administrator for Science Alan Stern addressed NASA’s Mars woes. Emily posted a report by an anonymous friend who attended the talk. Given that NASA was looking to freeze the rovers, and then recanted, this report takes on an added and interesting dimension.

March 25th, 2008 4:00 PM by Phil Plait in NASA | 8 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

8 Responses to “NASA’s Alan Stern addresses Mars concerns”

1. SourBlaze Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 4:48 pm

I don’t mean to sound political or anything, but seriously: If we pulled our troops out of Iraq we would have all the money available for Mars research.
2. Michael Lonergan Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 5:05 pm

Given the woes concerning unmanned robotic missions, how are we to believe that a manned mission will ever take place, at least in the foreseeable future? I am 43 years old, and I had hoped that I would live to see man take his first steps on this distant world. Sadly, even though I more than likely have just as many years ahead of me as behind, I don’t think I will live to see that accomplishment. As a young child of 9, I remember hearing the discussion around the time of the last Apollo Mission, and the talk was, “We’ll be back.” Well, we are still at least 15-20 years away from the Moon. Who knows how many more years beyond that we are from Mars.
3. Daffy Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 5:12 pm

Michael, I am disappointed, too. But, hey, at least we are keeping the world safe for…for…um…well, whatever it is we are doing over there.
4. Michael Lonergan Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 5:33 pm

Do you think BA could get Hoagland on board and convince Bush that the WMD were hidden at Cydonia? No? Just a thought! LOL
5. The Bad Astronomer Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 5:57 pm

Michael, not for all the money NASA gets.
6. Daffy Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 6:22 pm

If we could convince the military/industrial complex folks that there was a need to bomb mars, we’d be there by summer.
7. TomD Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 8:00 pm

You just have to convince the Chinese to try to get there first.
8. Michael Lonergan Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 8:40 pm

Maybe you could use the profits from “Death From The Skies” to fund your own private mission, then!

About Bad Astronomy

Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He's written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic and fights the abuse of science, but his true love is praising the wonders of real science.

The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking, movie reviews, and all that) can be found here.

Contact me: The Bad Astronomer "at" gmail "dot" com




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