Thoughts on the moon
I can't sleep for some reason tonight. My brain wont shut off. Maybe if I get this out I'll be able to sleep.
As most of you know, the US space program has a special place in my heart. I'm hardly an expert. I haven't memorized the names of everyone who walked on the moon, or of the people who've lost their lives. I can't tell you how many Mercury or Gemini launches there were, or when they happened. I rarely follow Shuttle launches or the thousands of other projects NASA has going these days.
It does affect me though, in a very personal and irrational way. I can't watch footage of the moon landings or Apollo 13 documentaries without getting choked up with a weird sense of pride. Some things I can't watch at all without turning into a sobbing mess. Seeing a fireball with 2 runaway boosters flying out of it will do it every time.
The moon is always a biggie for me. Only 12 people have set foot on the moon. Ever. The last was when I was only 2 months old.
Naturally, NASA's new budget caught my eye.
For those who haven't heard, the Constellation program (LEO soon, the moon by 2020, Mars someday) was cut. Completely. The budget isn't final yet and we can expect a big fight in congress, but it seems likely to go through with only minor modifications.
Strangely, I was simultaneously relieved and disappointed when I heard.
I should probably explain. I want to see a return to the moon. I want to see a human walk on another planet (Mars is the most likely candidate) before I die. Having that person be a "fellow American" would push some wonderful buttons in my head. The problem is that Constellation's chances of pulling that off have always been pretty close to zero.
Constellation is a typical Bush clusterfuck. He said "I want you to go to the moon. Go do it." With no real understanding of how much money would actually be needed. Unfunded/underfunded mandates are a waste of resources. Bush was fond of them. He called it leadership.
I digress.
Constellation is a big, expensive program but it has only a fraction of the resources needed to do what it's meant to do. Back in September the General Accounting Office reviewed the Constellation budget. What they found was that funding for the program was completely inadequate.
Let's put some numbers in perspective. We've spent $8 billion on Constellation so far. That's a lot. We spent around $25 billion on Apollo. In 1965-1972. That's roughly equivalent to $140 billion today. That doesn't count investments in prior programs that laid a lot of the ground work (Mercury and Gemini) Technical advances offset the cost somewhat, but NASA is also far less efficient than it was back then. The Apollo folks also took crazy risks. We're more risk averse today. That costs too.
So we have 3 options, fund Constellation properly, kill it, or stay the course. Only the first 2 are sane and given today's fiscal realities, funding it properly isn't an option either.
I'm sad to see the program go, but I'd rather a clean death than have it linger and waste away. I'm also pleased to see that the proposed TOTAL budget for NASA is actually INCREASED. There's also an increased emphasis on corporate involvement that could be a double edged sword. Corporate space exploration is the most promising thing out there, but if this turns into NASA just hiring out the usual suspects it'll be a waste.
We'll see.
Ahh. Sleepy now. 'Night all.
As most of you know, the US space program has a special place in my heart. I'm hardly an expert. I haven't memorized the names of everyone who walked on the moon, or of the people who've lost their lives. I can't tell you how many Mercury or Gemini launches there were, or when they happened. I rarely follow Shuttle launches or the thousands of other projects NASA has going these days.
It does affect me though, in a very personal and irrational way. I can't watch footage of the moon landings or Apollo 13 documentaries without getting choked up with a weird sense of pride. Some things I can't watch at all without turning into a sobbing mess. Seeing a fireball with 2 runaway boosters flying out of it will do it every time.
The moon is always a biggie for me. Only 12 people have set foot on the moon. Ever. The last was when I was only 2 months old.
Naturally, NASA's new budget caught my eye.
For those who haven't heard, the Constellation program (LEO soon, the moon by 2020, Mars someday) was cut. Completely. The budget isn't final yet and we can expect a big fight in congress, but it seems likely to go through with only minor modifications.
Strangely, I was simultaneously relieved and disappointed when I heard.
I should probably explain. I want to see a return to the moon. I want to see a human walk on another planet (Mars is the most likely candidate) before I die. Having that person be a "fellow American" would push some wonderful buttons in my head. The problem is that Constellation's chances of pulling that off have always been pretty close to zero.
Constellation is a typical Bush clusterfuck. He said "I want you to go to the moon. Go do it." With no real understanding of how much money would actually be needed. Unfunded/underfunded mandates are a waste of resources. Bush was fond of them. He called it leadership.
I digress.
Constellation is a big, expensive program but it has only a fraction of the resources needed to do what it's meant to do. Back in September the General Accounting Office reviewed the Constellation budget. What they found was that funding for the program was completely inadequate.
Let's put some numbers in perspective. We've spent $8 billion on Constellation so far. That's a lot. We spent around $25 billion on Apollo. In 1965-1972. That's roughly equivalent to $140 billion today. That doesn't count investments in prior programs that laid a lot of the ground work (Mercury and Gemini) Technical advances offset the cost somewhat, but NASA is also far less efficient than it was back then. The Apollo folks also took crazy risks. We're more risk averse today. That costs too.
So we have 3 options, fund Constellation properly, kill it, or stay the course. Only the first 2 are sane and given today's fiscal realities, funding it properly isn't an option either.
I'm sad to see the program go, but I'd rather a clean death than have it linger and waste away. I'm also pleased to see that the proposed TOTAL budget for NASA is actually INCREASED. There's also an increased emphasis on corporate involvement that could be a double edged sword. Corporate space exploration is the most promising thing out there, but if this turns into NASA just hiring out the usual suspects it'll be a waste.
We'll see.
Ahh. Sleepy now. 'Night all.