Slashdot Mirror
NASA Proposes Ending Voyager
darylb writes "NASA is proposing ending the 28-year old Voyager program, which costs a paltry $4mil per year to operate. One of the two Voyager probes is approaching the edge of what can be thought of as the sun's atmosphere (where the solar wind bumps up against interstellar wind), a place where no probe has gone before. Canceling this project means saving almost nothing compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars spent so far. The craft will be out of juice by 2015 in any case, so the marginal cost for the extra, invaluable, data would be minimal." From the article: "NASA officials said the possibility of cutting Voyager and several other long-running missions in the Earth-Sun Exploration Division arose in February, when the Bush administration proposed slashing the division's 2006 budget by nearly one-third -- from $75 million to $53 million."
slashing the division's 2006 budget by nearly one-third -- from $75 million to $53 million.
Well, I guess every million counts. I wonder how that $4 million per year is spent? Could they go into a cost saving
mode (below the 10 full time staff they have working with the probe now) where they basically just collected data from the probe and stashed it for later study or does this thing need
to be actively managed to remain useful?
SPAM
So, this is part of the fundamental problem of moving NASA's focus to entirely manned programs. Scientific projects like Hubble, and robotic exploration are getting shorted because the current administration want to put man on Mars. This of course is right in line with their strategy to remove basic science funding from the picture in favor of projects that have immediate payoff. An unfortunate and ignorant way to view things, but in character with the POTUS. Do the analysis and actually look at the potential scientific payoff from basic science research like the Voyager program, Hubble, basic science support of computer science research that is being cut by DARPA, bioscience research that is being cut in favor of military research or moved into weapons research, reduction in NIH funding etc....etc....etc....
This crowd especially will appreciate the payoffs that basic science research provides. Without basic science research, we would not have the Internet as we know it, we would not have personal computers, and for those that like the games, we most certainly would not have computer graphics as much of the pretty graphics you rely on arose out of basic science mathematical research.
It worries me because in many places in American society (including Slashdot), I see an movement away from intellectual pursuit and a devaluation of those who we have relied on to make the United States a pre-eminent force in international science.
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
BUT, NASA has a lot they have to balance right now... the ISS, gettin gthe shuttle back up, replacing the shuttle, and now, thanks to Bush, look at getting back to the moon and Mars (I think they are worth while, just not the way Bush has laid them out)... let's not forget the rovers, too.
There is some amazing data that might get lost, but you pick some programs to cut from that budget, while being expected to further new programs...
Or maybe we could sell it to the ESA, or even GIVE it to them?
Fear sells in america. No one has vision anymore, it's purely politics and consumer spending that drive the U$A. Almighty Dollar, thy will be done...
Sad really, who knows if we would have become the world leader we (sort of) are today if previous administrations had been so blatant in repaying the people that put them in office (corporations, not the rural boobs that are losing their farm subsidies as we speak).
We can already build something that would do a better job than voyager and overtake it. If we put something together with an Ion engine it would zip past Voyager in a couple years. Save the money from voyager and put it towards something newer and better.
The problem is that we're not going to build anything newer and better. We know where this $4m is going - to help cut the deficit caused by a two-year Iraq occupation and trillion dollar tax cut.
Tristan Yates
The question becomes, how is the 4 million being spent? I can't see there being a lot of equipment upkeep involved, just some receiving equipment. I wonder how much course correction if any is being done. I guess what I'm getting at, is could this be something that could be run like open source with the exception of the receiving equipment? If there is no data being sent to voyager, then maintenance of the receiving equipment could be the only cost. Suppose this equipment could be maintained, and setup in such a way as to provide the data being returned in a free and open matter (XML, raw data, etc). Like the pics that were published first by amateurs not that long ago (I believe from Titan, but I'm too lazy to search for it), the interested people on the interent would surely spend time analyzing and releasing reports/images/summaries for the scientific community, including NASA.
Just a thought, but I think the real question is, if a fund were setup, would NASA and/or the US government let this equipment be run by the public, and what are the real costs.
That's why part of this is a ploy. Its like the School Disctrict in your tow saying they need to raise property taxes to fund everything, because if you don't then something will be cut. Then they always say, well I guess well have to cut the travel budget for sports, or well have to eliminate all band programs.
Its an attempt to pull at people's emotions to try to get the extra money. And don't get me wrong its not misleading or untrue that cuts would need to be made, but the programs used to illistrate the debate are always the most popular ones. Just like right here.
What do you think they were hoping for when they gave us tax breaks and massive budget deficits? This. This is what they were hoping for. Now we have a fiscal problem where none existed before, and must destroy valuable federal programs. This is their long term plan coming to fruition. Social security, medicare, and welfare are all going to die, and it's not because they're too expensive.
They also have a long term plan to stop individuals from using the court system. They do this for two reasons. One, they want less accountability for corporations, and second, because the lawyers that work for these individuals are some of the most significant donors to the Democratic party in Texas. So they can simultaneously destroy corporate accountability and the Democratic party in Texas.
The Bush administration is way, way more farsighted than you think. They just have different goals than you do. You want a stronger America. What do they want?
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
It's also (essentially) the crux behind Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Say what you will about it otherwise, that part was spot-on.
"The Power of Nightmares" was an excellent documentary, btw. Some of it seems almost Davinci-Code-ish (ie: tinfoil hat), but let's face it:
When exactly will these "terror alerts" end? Or has the USA resigned itself to living in a perpetual state of terror forever? I guess my rock DOES keep tigers away...
No neo-con has ever been able to explain this to me - and sadly, this sort of thinking is moving into my country (Canada) as well. If we ever have our own 9/11, I shudder to think what this country will do. We've traditionally allowed our governments far more control of our lives than the USA as it is.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
That's why part of this is a ploy. Its like the School Disctrict in your tow saying they need to raise property taxes to fund everything, because if you don't then something will be cut.
Call that bluff at your childrens educational peril. My town did, we lost 24 teachers. We're voting on another one today which will cost us another 36 if it doesn't pass. Oh, and our "ignorance is bliss" town is also refusing to replace the forty year old (when the town at 12,000 people) library with a facility capable of serving the 40K that live here now.
Maybe sometimes it is hard to figure out if the boy is crying wolf, but sometimes it's worth it to find out before assuming that it's just a cheap ploy by a bunch of whiny teachers who want to buy another vacation house in Aruba.
In my view, the fundamental problem is that there are significant fears to be faced in the world. But these fears are not new, nor imagined. People look back on older times with a view of the "visions and dreams" that inspired people they ignore the fears they faced. This fear is supposedly newly minted, but in reality, it's ancient.
For example:
My early ancestor (great great great great grandfather) was a reporter who covered the cross-border raids by Panco Villa in the Southern US. My family archives contain sketches and copies of early "photographs" of the carnage of a raid which killed dozens of civilians.
My great grandfather was a military advisor who helped calibrate and tune and build the Maginot line which, during tests, made him virtually deaf in one ear.
My grandparents lived on the east coast of the US, and my grandmother spotted - with a group of about 40 others - a German U-Boat off the coast close enough that a co-worker at the navy yard threw a rock and hit the hull of the ship. Her sisters worked on a farm in rural Maine where the Army brough by German POWs to pick potatoes during the growing season. A farm town with no farm boys isn't much of a town, you know.
My great uncle Joe fought and died in Italy just after Operation Husky, while invading Sicily. Before his death he fought the dreaded Afrika Corps headed by Rommel, and was nearly killed in the first battle of El Almein. He participated in Operation Torch, where he won a Silver Star.
My father grew up a few hundred yards from where a German spy/Nazi party offical landed on the coast with plans to infiltrate the country and court subversive elements inside the country. He lived through the Cuban Missle crisis, huddled in the basement of the newley constructed church which was amoung the first in the nation to have a fallout shelter built in. He volunteered for both Kennedy campaigns (Jack and Bobby). He was outside the draft age when Vietnam heated up, but most of his cousins and nephews ended up going over, and some, not coming back.
My oldest brother was alive when the iron curtain looked to be an indomitable force in the world, and when Reagan was shot, and when the Holy Father was shot.
I was alive and looking skeptically on as my friends and family poured blood money into stocks that they didnt know from scrap paper during the booms times of the 1990's. I was painfully aware to see the fallout - minimal retirement accounts and hard times, joblessness and addiction - that followed throughout the late 90's and early 00's.
What's the point? The point is that if you look retrospectively at history you'll see lots of good memories, and good feelings, and smiling faces. The roaring twenties, the national unity of World War II, the golden age of the post-WWII US economic powerhouse, the space race of the 60's and the promise of better living through technology. The fall of communism and the rise of the investor class throughout the last decades. Prosperity, and economic growth raising all boats. The restoration of American innovation and economic might.
But through all the good the fear was always there. The fear of the Germans, the fear of the Japs, the fear of the Chineese, the communists, the fear of nuclear annihilation, the fear of a silent spring - it was always there. The air-raid drills, the personal crisis, it's always been there.
We look back with the freshness of a new generation, and zero-in on the greatness of our ancestors. We look past their distasteful characteristics, their incredulity on certain matters, and recognize them for the purity of their ideals and the pristine dreams they laid out for their children and grandchildren.
Well, I can say this: I have my dreams. Dreams for economic and personal security for my wife, my unborn daughter, and myself. I have dreams of being part of a great nation, who shares its bounty with those who share our liberal values. I have dreams for a system and nation dedi