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Moon to mars

Ian

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I
My opinion of Bush's Moon to Mars program is that he was using it just to get elected. What is your opinion about this.
 
Moon To Mars

I don't know why Nasa still has the moon to mars program on their main website at Nasa.gov if it's just to get Bush reelected. He won't be reelected in 4 years because he can only get elected 2 times. I'm confused about why the moon to mars program is still on Nasa's website.
 
Re: Moon To Mars

Ian said:
I don't know why Nasa still has the moon to mars program on their main website at Nasa.gov if it's just to get Bush reelected. He won't be reelected in 4 years because he can only get elected 2 times. I'm confused about why the moon to mars program is still on Nasa's website.
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Send them an email and ask. Alternatively, get onto the Usenet group sci.space.history; there are some pretty knowledgable people there (as well as some real jerkoffs - is that in the censoring database?), including present and former NASA personnel.
 
Keep in mind that just because Bush may have no intention of actually doing something, it would be politically awkward to withdraw support this soon after the election.

While he himself can't get re-elected, Bush does need to safeguard the Republican's current dominant advantage in the legislature and executive branch. An overt withdrawal of something initially criticised as a political ploy right after his election would cast a shadow on all Republican candidates in the House and Senate.

IMHO, at least.
 
Hate to be a tommy topic.

Wouldn't this be better in the "Politics, Current Events, and Social Issues" Forum?

O.
 
Was this thread continued to seriously consider the venture of going to Mars or to be just another Bush Bashingfest?

I really like the idea of going to Mars (Bush agenda or not) -- to Hades with those that feel it's not worthwhile. NASA is certainly not perfect, but it's the best space program the Earth has right now. I would also like to see a revisiting of the Moon, Mars mission or not. Did anyone see the photos of Titan? Now that is impressive. Just how long do you think it will be before OBL (or others like him) decides to fund such research? Come on -- let's finally do something seriously off this rock. If Bush did it for re-election purposes, so what? Let's put his feet to the fire and hold him to it! It's well worth it.
 
Moon to Mars

I hope that another moon mission occurs. I don't know whether it is real or not, but it would be good to see that in my lifetime.
 
My opinion of Bush's Moon to Mars program is that he was using it just to get elected. What is your opinion about this.
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I seriously doubt it. Do you really think that enough people today pay enough attention to the space program, or feel that strongly about it, to make a difference in an election? Again, I doubt it.

On a side note, this is only my second posting to this forum, and I'm already tired of the Bush-bashing and partisan sniping. I expected better.
 
Just thinking said:
Was this thread continued to seriously consider the venture of going to Mars or to be just another Bush Bashingfest?

I really like the idea of going to Mars (Bush agenda or not) -- to Hades with those that feel it's not worthwhile. NASA is certainly not perfect, but it's the best space program the Earth has right now. I would also like to see a revisiting of the Moon, Mars mission or not. Did anyone see the photos of Titan? Now that is impressive. Just how long do you think it will be before OBL (or others like him) decides to fund such research? Come on -- let's finally do something seriously off this rock. If Bush did it for re-election purposes, so what? Let's put his feet to the fire and hold him to it! It's well worth it.
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I've offered my opinions on Bush elsewhere, so I'll forego that here. I'm an aerospace professional with a lot of years in the field, including four working directly for NASA at JSC in Houston. I'm also a major fan of the Apollo program, and a strong defender of the value of that effort. But this purported follow-on is an ill-conceived stunt. There hasn't been any question that it's possible for us to perform these sorts of missions for decades; therefore we won't be fundamentally altering our potential horizons like we were through Apollo. At the right time, this would be worthwhile endeavor, but in the current ecomonic climate, it's a foolish waste of resources. A successful program of this sort would cost hundreds of billions of dollars. That might not seem like much to an administration that drops that much on a frivolous war without accurate evidence of the need for it, but it is. Adding this much debt when were straining under the current level is criminal mismanagement.

If Bush wants a grand effort to provide a noble legacy, he could spend a good deal less than this effort will require and lead an overhaul of our energy infrastructure in the next decade - the technology paths are clearly enough defined, and the need is much more critical.

As far as NASA itself goes, the agency should divest its leading role in operational concerns, turn planetary and robotic satellite-based research, which uses exciting but well-established technology, over to private concerns, and focus on providing longer-term vision. Were it up to me, I'd maintain NASA's space focus at a reasonable budget level and give them the goal that within three hundred years, we should be a two-planet species. In other words, go terra-form Mars. Find a way to re-eastablish a magnetic field, and re-introduce water in a sustainable way. Obviously many subsequent generations would have to be willing to sustain the effort, but at least we'd have a genuine reason for going when we did.

However, the energy problems are coming in the next two decades as oil gets scarce, and if we don't solve them first, then you're not going to New Jersey, much less Mars. That's where a major push belongs.
 
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