Monday, May 05, 2008

We should have at least one base on the Moon by now. We should be on our way to Mars and drawing up plans for crewed expeditions to the Jovian moons.

Instead, we get this:

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5 comments:

Tony F. said...

My criticism of NASA grows on a daily basis, especially since they seem to be the least imaginative bunch of the face of the Earth, to the point where one wonders if NASA is really a front for some military-industrial intergalactic space project undertaken beyond our ken. Seriously, the amount of money they spend, and resources they waste, is truly shameful and vulgar, especially considering the countless poor and homeless their money could benefit. I'm no humanitarian, but how many meals could one fuel-load of a shuttle buy? Borderline unconscionable, in my opinion. It used to be about pushing boundaries and new frontiers of exploration; now they're a bunch of intergalactic geologists. Who the fuck cares if a rock on a moon of Saturn contains remnants of feces from some bacteria? Boring! Pointless!

9:59 AM
Anonymous said...

As the taste for socialism grows in the U.S. an even greater taste for space exploration will wane.

No country on Earth can afford to finance all the social projects people cry out for, and at the same time pay for space holidays for the Buck Rogers types.

I doubt we will ever have enough extra money to build a base on the moon, much less a trip to Mars.

1:23 PM
Mac said...

I doubt we will ever have enough extra money to build a base on the moon, much less a trip to Mars.

And therein lies the real tragedy: this shouldn't be a matter of having "extra money" in the first place. Missions to the planets are part of a vital human endeavor. Space tourism notwithstanding, they're not a luxury. Indeed, we can't afford *not* to go.

3:43 PM
Anonymous said...

And therein lies the real tragedy: this shouldn't be a matter of having "extra money" in the first place. Missions to the planets are part of a vital human endeavor.

Unfortunately, the bulk of humanity doesn't see space exploration and settlement as preserving the race, we've been memed to believe it's a luxury we can ill afford while cries of 'money better spent on social causes' echoes through the air.

And of course, the social causes don't get funded either.

I won't go into my parapolitical rant here though.

5:16 PM
platts42 said...

I think it's important to remember we need to be armed and ready to combat the Marsupions from Outback 9 in a microgravity combat sphere.

Seriously though, the only way to get the financing to go Mars or to the Moon is to convince the MegaMoguls that they can rape and pillage fresh environments.

I want us to go for the spirit of the thing. To develop new technologies and ways of seeing our local bit of space.

I fully believe that it's possible to allocate money to NASA and Social Programs, and have them paid in full if one were to divert the monies away from Defense. The amount poured into black budgets (and up front stuff) boggle the mind.
I believe that allocatin

8:29 PM

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