What Will be the Future of NASA?

Hello,
What direction will NASA take with the retirement of the overly
expensive shuttle program? Will America ever have a meaningful
exploration program again? Will it be canceled because of the huge
national debt? These are challenges we will need to contemplate.


http://developco.webs.com

In article db1a6290-6933-4e17-9f62-cfb04aed7fb9
@l15g2000prg.googlegroups.com, says...

Hello,
What direction will NASA take with the retirement of the overly
expensive shuttle program? Will America ever have a meaningful
exploration program again? Will it be canceled because of the huge
national debt? These are challenges we will need to contemplate.


http://developco.webs.com

The short answer is NASA doesn't really know for sure. They're still
trying to figure out what pieces of the Orion and Ares programs they can
salvage. Anything beyond that is really up in the air.

Try reading some of the space news websites and you should be able to
figure all of this out in short order.

Jeff
--
"Had Constellation actually been focused on building an Earth-Moon
transportation system, it might have survived. The decision to have it
first build a costly and superfluous Earth-to-orbit transportation
system (Ares I) was a fatal mistake.", Henry Spencer 1/2/2011

On Jan 25, 9:35*am, Jeff Findley wrote:
In article db1a6290-6933-4e17-9f62-cfb04aed7fb9
@l15g2000prg.googlegroups.com, says...



Hello,
What direction will NASA take with the retirement of the overly
expensive shuttle program? Will America ever have a meaningful
exploration program again? Will it be canceled because of the huge
national debt? These are challenges we will need to contemplate.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *http://developco.webs.com

The short answer is NASA doesn't really know for sure. *They're still
trying to figure out what pieces of the Orion and Ares programs they can
salvage. *Anything beyond that is really up in the air.

Try reading some of the space news websites and you should be able to
figure all of this out in short order.

Jeff
--
"Had Constellation actually been focused on building an Earth-Moon
transportation system, it might have survived. *The decision to have it
first build a costly and superfluous Earth-to-orbit transportation
system (Ares I) was a fatal mistake.", Henry Spencer 1/2/2011

If they dont reinvent themselves they have no future in manned space.

and because of congress ordering their choices to benefit the
selected, like thikol. nasa has become a joke.

today they announced they are looking to lease shuttle facilities

wrote:
Hello,
What direction will NASA take with the retirement of the overly
expensive shuttle program? Will America ever have a meaningful
exploration program again? Will it be canceled because of the huge
national debt? These are challenges we will need to contemplate.


http://developco.webs.com





America is headed to be a third world, third rate country. It's been
grossly mismanaged for far too long. I wish the fracking lawyers would
get out of government and let the scientists run things.



--
LSMFT

Those who would give up Essential Liberty
to purchase a little Temporary Safety,
deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

wrote in message news:db1a6290-6933-4e17-9f62- What
direction will NASA take with the retirement of the overly
expensive shuttle program? Will America ever have a meaningful
exploration program again? Will it be canceled because of the huge
national debt? These are challenges we will need to contemplate.

Let's build a set of facts:

The Shuttle is just about over and can't be continued if we wanted to.

The ISS is chewing up a big piece of the budget - and we see articles that
after a little math say less than 6% of the manpower is doing any science -
the rest is ISS Operations. But we're committed to keep it going. So we're
learning operational procedures - but have nothing in the future to apply
them to. None of the miraculous drugs, perfect crystals, etc that would
result from the ISS ever materialized.

NASA has no real manned mission besides ISS defined - some foggy illusion of
flying by an asteroid in 2025 or maybe visiting a mathematical point in
space.

There is no long range goal with programs that leads to a final objective
like Mercury-Gemini-Apollo-Apollo Applications.

We read about a NASA speech that talks of and undefined flexible path that
doesn't include a manned moon mission. The speech ends with a list of
exciting things NASA is doing like prototyping manned rovers and habitats
for the lunar surface - but we're not going there - maybe we'll sell them to
the Chinese or Indians.

The White House says Constellation is dead - but it's still being funded -
Obama doesn't want it but after 2 years he still can't drive a stake through
it's heart. Although he's still trying.

NASA seems to revel in holding press conferences that present questionable
Pseudo-science or illogical logical reasoning about experiment results.

The rocket scientists in Congress are defining a new heavy lift booster -
that has no mission - but the congress seems to know what components it
should be built of, what it has to cost, and when it will be ready.

NASA is still spending significant funds on LEO operations - what will they
do in LEO? The air force is actually using systems in LEO and GEO.

At one point during Bush's second term, the Government was considering
closing up to 5 NASA centers as unneeded. Then the concept of 10 healthy
centers caught on.

Sightings of the new NASA administrator are rarer than clear photos of UFOs.

A large fraction of the NASA budget goes to pork at local institutions and
has nothing to do with space or aviation.

I'm sure others can add many more.

Does this seem like an unorganized mess?

SO - now we're in a big Federal budget crunch and everybody's looking for
something to cut.......Can we bet what happens next.

It's sad I can remember NASA achievements and commitment from the 1960s.



..

wrote:

What direction will NASA take with the retirement of the overly
expensive shuttle program? Will America ever have a meaningful
exploration program again? Will it be canceled because of the huge
national debt? These are challenges we will need to contemplate.

Right now is the golden age of robotic deep space exporation. Probes
from several coutries including the US are out there right now going to
new places and revisiting far away old places.

Having started my career at JPL I have an open bias favoring unmanned
probes. If "A man's reach should exceed his grasp" then humanity's
reach (unmanned probes) should exceed our grasp (manned space). It's
not a bad thing to lead the world in robotic space exploration funded by
the government, nor even a bad thing to be one country doing that among
several.

I'm okay with the current privatization moving toward manned space. In
the long run it is bound to beat anything NASA can do. Same principle
as Columbus's government funded trips versus the larger private
invasions. Same principle as Lewis and Clark's government funded trip
versus the larger private colonizations.

On Jan 25, 2:36*pm, Doug Freyburger wrote:
wrote:

What direction will NASA take with the retirement of the overly
expensive shuttle program? Will America ever have a meaningful
exploration program again? Will it be canceled because of the huge
national debt? These are challenges we will need to contemplate.

Right now is the golden age of robotic deep space exporation. *Probes
from several coutries including the US are out there right now going to
new places and revisiting far away old places.

Having started my career at JPL I have an open bias favoring unmanned
probes. *If "A man's reach should exceed his grasp" then humanity's
reach (unmanned probes) should exceed our grasp (manned space). *It's
not a bad thing to lead the world in robotic space exploration funded by
the government, nor even a bad thing to be one country doing that among
several.

I'm okay with the current privatization moving toward manned space. *In
the long run it is bound to beat anything NASA can do. *Same principle
as Columbus's government funded trips versus the larger private
invasions. *Same principle as Lewis and Clark's government funded trip
versus the larger private colonizations.

I think our future is robotics.

Heard tonights state of the union will be a overall budget cut back to
2008 levels government wide. If thats true nasas budget just shrank
more...

if congresses goal is to keep the pork squealing restart the shuttle
supply lines, and go with a shuttle derived heavy lifter using same
mold lines.

the delay waiting for more tanks and boosters can be used to recertify
the shuttle, and make some needed upgrades...........

and keep the launch teams and everything together

wrote in message
...
Hello,
What direction will NASA take with the retirement of the overly
expensive shuttle program? Will America ever have a meaningful
exploration program again? Will it be canceled because of the huge
national debt? These are challenges we will need to contemplate.




Moonbase?

We'll have a moonbase the day our military decides we need
a moonbase, and not before. And our military will only build
a moonbase at the end of a thirty year long cold war with the
Chinese for control of space. Thirty years of wasting every
last dime on a ignorant, dangerous and barbaric technological
race not unlike the equally thoughtless cold war with the Soviets.

Be careful what you wish for.

Doug Freyburger wrote:

Stuff I'm pretty much in complete agreement with.
For the short term I think NASA should completely embrace the role of space
educator. There is no reason not to cover the moon in tele-robotic explorers
controlled from earth by middle schoolers, with NASA/JPL supplying the
infrastructure.

And if from that detailed exploration we find something so valuable as to
drive the commercial development of manned spaceflight, so much the better, at
least the possibility will be in our kid's imaginations.

What I worry about is how NASA maintains the infrastructure to support manned
spaceflight in the meantime. Lease or sell to the private sector?

Dave

David Spain wrote:
Doug Freyburger wrote:

Stuff I'm pretty much in complete agreement with.
For the short term I think NASA should completely embrace the role of
space educator. There is no reason not to cover the moon in tele-robotic
explorers controlled from earth by middle schoolers, with NASA/JPL
supplying the infrastructure.


You just know some kid is going to figure out a way to "pixelate"[1] their
Facebook page on the lunar surface using their robot when "Mr. Myers" their
science teacher isn't looking!

Ha!

Dave

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixelation