Slashdot Mirror
Pluto Mission Apparently Cancelled
hey! writes "This just in at space.com -- new details of the Bush NASA budget.
It looks like the Pluto-Kuiper express has been cancelled -- possibly our last chance for centuries to get a closeup look at Pluto's atmosphere. As Jupiter moves out of position for gravity assist and Pluto moves further from the Sun it's atmosphere will begin to freeze.
My favorite line in the report -- ISS will get increased "consistent with a strategy of constraining space station cost growth." OK, they're talking about being pound wise and penny foolish, but you can't pass up an Orwellian straight line like that."
If the Administration hadn't expressed an interest in constraining budget growth of the ISS, I'd be worried.
Anyone want to post hard numbers on exactly how many billions of dollars the ISS is over-budget? How much of our "financial aid" to Russia has really been "please, take this bribe and keep Baikonur operating a little while longer"?
The ISS is hugely, massively overbudget. The Administration's expressed interest in constraining more costs is prudence, not Visigothism. Saying "this thing is already several billion overbudget, and we don't want to see it grow one dollar moreso" is a great deal different from saying "we're not going to give this the funding it needs".
While I'm adamantly in favor of the space program and long-term habitation in space, I'm not in favor of the idea (which some Slashdotters seem to agree with) that any level of funding is acceptable, and any constraint on funding is neo-Luddism.
Aliens on pluto are reportedly unhappy with the decision, as they can now not live up to a bet they made last year with the Martians to crash the probe. The Martians are said to be joyful over the news because pluto now has to change it's name to snoopy.....
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Does anyone actually have a Java program designed to control air traffic, or for the operation of a nuclear facility?
[B]ut you can't pass up an Orwellian straight line like that.
Sadly it looks like they can. Science or the pursuit of knowlege is usually one of the first things to go in times of trouble. I am not an American, but I would hardly call the times in the U.S. "troubled". I fear that the constant downgrading of NASA is perhaps that warning sign of trouble.
There is simply too much "lack of caring" for scientific (or more specifically skeptical) thinking in North America, things like the "outlawing" of evolutionary instruction are, like the NASA "A Blueprint for New Beginnings" dangerous. Sure, the budget is 2% greater than 2001, but with the space station all the money is put towards that.
Expect to see even more "cheaper, faster" but not "better" space exploring craft in the future.
I have a bad feeling about this.
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
We have two many nuclear submarines going around in circles that really are not needed any more. How many times over is it necessary to destroy the Planet? We have enough power to destroy *all* life on Earth.
We have enough deterrants already, no need for more, why not pout this money into things that help humanity? Further the prospects of everyone on Earth, not hinder it with the chgance of total death. Can you imagine in 65 million years a new intelligence trying to figure out killed our species out? Was it an Asteroid? Nope. Oh my, it was there own weapons, they must have been primitive.
If you think that the threat has subsided, well it has to a point, but remember that in 1995 we came to within 2 minutes of Nuclear devastation due to a Norwegian weather rocket fooling the Russians into thinking that the US had launched a first strike against Moscow.
I am not saying we should scrap all the military assests, that would be silly, but we should cut back the white elephants and put that money into something more meaningful.
We have achieved more when reaching out exploring than we have any other way, in my ever so humble opinion.
StarTux
Estimated cost of national missile defense system: $ 60 billion.
In other words: The United States develop a "missile defense" system against "rogue states" which is known not to work. For this money, they could fly man three times to Mars and back. 'nuff said.
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This particular budget cut is a travesty of magnificent proprtions. The celestial clock happens to be perfectly in tune with our technological advancement, to offer us this rare glimpse of our environment, as a species. To decide that we can't afford to redirect a few paltry resources to the task strikes me as narrow and crude. It's almost as if, as a species, we are too lazy to bother craning our necks a little to see what's outside the crib.
But it doesn't have to be this way. NASA isn't the only agency capable of sendiing the probe. in fact, maybe this feat could be accomplished on a voluntary basis? We have theories/plans for magical technology at our disposal, commercial support services to pester, potential launch capabilities and a wide variety of legal launch facilities around the world.
Consider: we have, just here at slashdot, the ears of a number of very technically capable individuals that might be persuaded to help create a Pluto Probe in an open sourced, ameteur manner. Corporate sponsorship would be soon to follow. Perhaps I haven't thought it out too carefully, but it is apparent to me that the potential to deploy a probe exists, despite the government.
::I will not moderate my opinions for your stinking karma
To quote the document which the Slashdot reference refers to:
To support a potential, future sprint to the planet Pluto before 2020, additional funds will be directed to key propulsion technology investments.
I think this is an excellent idea: The Deep Space 1 probe has already pretty much proven that ion drive works, and more interesting propulsion technologies exist on the drawing board. Not only the Pluto-Kuiper program will benefit from this (the Kuiper belt will still be there) but other probe programs as well (except maybe Moon probes, but they ain't that interesting anyway).
The whole budget thing seems to me like GWB is shaking a stick at NASA, saying that they must start to think about the commercialization of space, and to build more reliable stuff.
It isn't all bad, IMHO. It could be a lot worse.
According to NASA:
2000/09/13 - A NASA stop work order has been issued for The Pluto-Kuiper Express mission as currently envisioned. Further direction from NASA has been given to develop a new mission to reach Pluto before 2020.
Note that the date is last September, which is before the US Election debacle. To you Bush haters out there, please understand the facts of the situation before you immediately jump all over Dubya.
If you read the troll FAQ (sorry, don't have the link), you'll recognize this as a classic troll. First sentence is entirely reasonable, but, as the post progesses, it becomes more and more inflammatory. The closing line, "NASA is finally doing something useful.", is the closing barb...
If you don't believe me, check qpt's user info and look at his comment history. See how many -1's qpt has posted? There are also some 3's and 4's, suggesting that he's a pretty successful troll.
Just so I don't wander too far off-topic, I'll analyze and rebut one line:
Far too much effort is being wasted in superfluous programs that have no real chance of every producing a usable application.
Yeah, like quantum mechanics. Oh, wait, about a third of all technology invented in the past 50 years involves QM (directly or indirectly). Think semiconductors, high-temp superconductors, laser diodes...
And what the hell was up with those crazy Watson and Crick guys who were playing with a double helix? And that Newton guy...
I dare you to name a single scientific theory that's at least 50 years old and hasn't been useful.
I could go on, but it's just a troll. If you fell for it (as the moderators have), you should be ashamed of yourself.