As new space powers like China and India surge ahead with their efforts to create moon bases and launch manned missions to Mars, the U.S.’s space program sits at a crossroads. Once one of the world’s brightest scientific beacons, an underfunded NASA now has to come to grips with the reality that it may be beaten in the critical return to the Moon and journey to Mars. Now with the Ares I rocket prototype having logged its test flight, the true decision time about the fate of NASA begins in the government and scientific forums.
Many complain — we’ve already gone to the moon, why go back? “And what’s the point of expensive programs like the International Space Station (ISS) that cost taxpayers millions and return results that on the surface don’t seem a cost-effective way of solving pressing Earth based problems?” they argue.
On the other hand, the lure of exploration and scientific discovery are always driving forces, as is national pride. While the NASA officials would be unlikely to admit it on record, most will be embarrassed if we get beaten to Mars. For these reasons alone, the U.S. is unlikely to turn away from its dreams of exploring the solar system — however, the critical emerging argument is how best to achieve such dreams.
Retired aerospace executive Norman Augustine is leading a panel that has supplied a 155-page report to Congress with suggestions from individuals intimately involved in NASA’s past successes. The panel has suggested some rather drastic shifts in the government’s space spending strategy.
Among the panel’s recommendations are to focus on refining Ares I before deploying it and, in the meantime, buy rides to low-Earth orbit from foreign players. It also recommends that rather than scrapping the ISS or shuttle fleet, to instead retain them, using them on a reduced basis. Finally, it recommends that rather than trying to set up a moon base, we instead focus on traveling to Mars, or alternative low gravity destinations such as near-Earth asteroids or the Martian moons.
Congress, though, largely feels that the such drastic changes are unnecessary, and is leaning towards pumping $3B USD extra into the space agency to try to fix its problems. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson — a Florida Democrat who flew aboard the space shuttle and helped convince President Barack Obama to give NASA’s top spot to his former mission commander, Charles Bolden – says that President Obama promised him, “NASA will get enough money to do what it does best: go explore the heavens.”
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat who is married to an astronaut and chairs the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, characterized the Ares I-X prototype test program as “well managed” and “executable”. She said that the test flight showed NASA to be “on track with its human space exploration program”, and that no major policy shift was needed.
The Augustine Panel, though, insists NASA’s plans are a surefire recipe for failure. They say that the return to the Moon will cost approximately $145B USD — $45B USD more than previously estimated. Given the current NASA budget of $18B USD yearly, even President Obama’s planned cash infusion won’t be able to provide enough funding by 2020, the planned mission date, the panel argues. The panel adds that the shuttle fleet’s retirement timetable is unrealistic and should be extended to 2011. And it sharply remarks about the government’s plans to shutter the ISS in 2015, commenting, “It makes no sense to shut down the space station after five years of operation.”
The panel argues that rockets from commercial startups such as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Taurus 2 would better serve the industry. Here a critical question becomes whether Augustine and his colleagues — many of them who work in the private sector — can offer unbiased analysis, given that many of them would stand to profit from such a shift.
Currently NASA plans on offering $50M USD over the next year to fund the commercial development of rockets to carry astronauts. The Augustine Panel, though, suggests that Ares won’t be ready for manned missions by 2017, and that heavier investment in commercial endeavors is the only practical approach. XCOR Aerospace’s Jeff Greason, a member of the panel said it was his “personal opinion” that commercial rockets were a better value than Ares.
So will Congress follow the recommendations and “pull the plug”, cutting back on Ares, after its first successful flight? Or will it go its own way, charging ahead with Ares? The omnibus spending bill that applies to NASA, which is to be passed in a few weeks, will shed some clues. But ultimately the nation may have to wait for a Presidential address from Barack Obama before the true fate of NASA and the U.S. space program is made clear. dedekusn, fr: dailyTech.
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Harus saya,
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ke 5
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Selamat pagi!
Silahkan di habiskan mas..
ayoo.. nambah lagi deeh.. hee..hee..
emang makan Bakso..? 😆
ikutan duuunG
punten nu imbitna rada bahenol geser sakedik… 😆
SAHA NU BAHENOL TEH KANG?
Kok basa planetan mas, mimangnya ada apaan? 😆
kita belajar.. ewes..ewesss… mas..
buka translate gugel dulu aah.. !!
ya
doh, kebanyakan translate nya….
SY JUGA GA NGERTI KANG, COBA PANGTRANSLATEKEUN
Link ku nyang ini kalo mau jangan diilangin mas, PR 4 je 😆
Iyaa.. Mas.. Link saya juga kehapus..
pd hal kemarin blon ada lho..??? hee..hee..
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Link ku juga jgn di apus ya Mas Wan…. Sayang PR 10… 😆
embun77 link sudah terpasa uy, link balik ya!
*maksa* 🙂
bangun tidur pagi langsung kasih komeng masih ngantuk, Selamat pagi semua
wallah.. haregene baru bangun..seeh..??
habis begadang yaa..
yuuuk… Pissssssss…. 😆
Begadang nyari berita unik yo Mas… 😆
begadang kapan hari melihat sandiwara anak bangsa komisi 3 DPR itu lho, wes nggak lucu, nyesel pemilu kemaren nyoblos
ruanghatiberbagi samakah dengan embun777?
wah. blogna emang rame ya 🙂
lebih rame dari pasar merdeka bogor mas… 😆
rame oleh sampah ya?
Many still complain? they’ve gone to the moon, why go back? “And what good is expensive programs like the International Space Station (ISS) that cost taxpayers millions and give results on the surface does not seem cost-effective way to suppress the Earth based on solving the problem?..
wallah.. 😆
Many still complain? they’ve gone to the moon, why go back? “And what good is expensive programs like the International Space Station (ISS) that cost taxpayers millions and give results on the surface does not seem cost-effective way to suppress the Earth based on solving the problem?..
welleh.. 😀 😀
Many still complain? they’ve gone to the moon, why go back? “And what good is expensive programs like the International Space Station (ISS) that cost taxpayers millions and give results on the surface does not seem cost-effective way to suppress the Earth based on solving the problem?..
wallah.. 😆 😆
Duplicate comment detected; it looks as though you’ve already said that!
Many still complain? they’ve gone to the moon, why go back? “And what good is expensive programs like the International Space Station (ISS) that cost taxpayers millions and give results on the surface does not seem cost-effective way to suppress the Earth based on solving the problem?..
wallah.. 😆 😆 😦 😦
pissss kang….
pissssss
weeerrrrrr
piss
pisss
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weeerrrrrrrr
pissss, pissss,
weeeeerrrr, werrrrr
naon etateh?
lihat gambar dulu baru translate..
🙄
I don’t know
because I can’t Speak english.. 😆
sama donG
sama dunkkkk 🙂
Oh..ikujtannnzzxxxxx
oh… boleehhhhxxxxx
Kalo mau keluar angkasa,,ajak – ajak yah..
yahhhhhhh……………. ok kang
Ini enak nih kalo naek kapal yang itu..yah..
kayaxnyaaa kang
Pisss…Kang
Pissannggg
kayanya Kang Dedekusn cocoknya jadi astronot aja,,,yah..yah…yah…
wakwakwak…. astronot naon kang? 😀
Assalamu’alikum,
Iya Kang, alamatnya sudah saya terima, terima kasih, InsyaAllah senin saya kirim dengan kilat khusus. (Dewi Yana)
Wa’alaikumsalam,
terima kasih te Dewi….
treima kasih banget..
sy sangat bahagia
selamat malam
ngedukung seratus persen om dangstar tuk jadi astronot
salam hangat selalu
salamhangat juga untukmu blue , thanksss
Anda mengirim komentar terlalu cepat. Sabar.
Wilujeng wengi Kang dede, tos ah seubeuh sosonoanna… 😀
Salam
Eh engke heula ketang, postinganna teu acan dikomentaran, gambar apolo na sae… 😀
Meluncur mulus membawa kue cucur dan bolu kukus… 😀
meluncur kamana kang?
buka kamuuusss….
tranlatenannya tolong kirim ke sy! 🙂
Selamat pagi semua selamat berakhir pekan yah……… selamat liburan
RAIHLAH “JATI DIRI MANUSIA”.. untuk
MENGEMBALIKAN JATI DIRI BANGSA INDONESIA
Salam Cinta Damai dan Kasih Sayang ‘tuk Sahabatku terchayaaaaaaaank
I Love U fuuulllllllllllllllllll
RAIHLAH “JATI DIRI MANUSIA”.. untuk
MENGEMBALIKAN JATI DIRI BANGSA INDONESIA
Salam Cinta Damai dan Kasih Sayang ‘tuk Sahabatku terchayaaaaaaaank
I Love U fuuullllllllllllllllllll
RAIHLAH “JATI DIRI MANUSIA”.. untuk
MENGEMBALIKAN JATI DIRI BANGSA INDONESIA
Salam Cinta Damai dan Kasih Sayang ‘tuk Sahabatku terchayaaaaaaaank
I Love U fuuulllllllllllllllllllll
RAIHLAH “JATI DIRI MANUSIA”.. untuk
MENGEMBALIKAN JATI DIRI BANGSA INDONESIA
Salam Cinta Damai dan Kasih Sayang ‘tuk Sahabatku terchayaaaaaaaank
I Love U fuuulllllllllllll 😆 🙄
Ada yg tau keadaan kang Haniifa ? Kt info dr Fietria, Kang Haniifa Kecelakaan Mobil … benarkah? Dimana? Skr dimana?
*INFO PENTING SEGERA*
sy dapet info disini http://masyono9.wordpress.com/about/#comment-714
eh, betulan tuh??? turut berduka jika benar…
SEPERTINYA HANYA ISUE..
SEMOGA KANG hANIIFA BAIK-BAIK SAJA. amIN
gak sempet translite…jadi selamat siang aja dah…hehehe
salam pisssssss
ehem ini kok malah ngomongin pertamax keduax ketigax… ahahhaha…. terus2 berdasarkan artikel diatas, misinya bagaimana nih? akankah dilanjutkan? atau mandeg begitu saja? 😀
so…………….how about the mission ?
is still going on or just finish that way ?
best regards.
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