New NASA Budget Woes

Abcd1234 writes "The last few months have seen NASA the focal point of high drama, the most obvious example being the controversy surrounding the next Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. Well, the drama continues with NASA reporting to a Senate subcommitee that it currently faces a $2 billion budget shortfall which could result in the downsizing, delaying, or outright cancellation of a number of NASA missions, including the Space Interferometry Mission and Terrestrial Planet Finder, which may be delayed, and the James Webb Space Telescope, often cited as the successor to the HST, which faces potential cancellation. Among the reasons for the shortfall: cost overruns in a number of missions, including the shuttle return-to-flight program, resumption of the Hubble servicing mission, and mandated congressional expenditures (a.k.a 'pork')."

Comments

But what about our promise?

[MightyPez]

We're still going to Mars, right bitches?

No big deal, really

[Anonymous Coward]

Just offshore NASA to India.

Re:Wait A Minute...

[britneys 9th husband]

I just hope they don't decide to merge NASA with the Department of Homeland Security, because then they'd be forced to buy all their rocket parts from expensive American suppliers, and then they'd REALLY have to cancel a lot of missions.

Survivor Mars, The "M" Prize

[Anonymous Coward]

Get NASA on a for profit basis. Create the M-prize. First team to reach Mars and bring back soil samples wins a billion dollars. You film the various teams and require them to film the mission. You get a hit TV series out of the deal and cheap science.

Next season is survivor Afganistan. First team to go in and capture Osam gets a billion dollars. A real bargin and ratings gold. Could save broadcast TV and solve the budgt crisis at the same time! The government is so screwed up outsourcing to entertainment could solve all our problems.

Ohhh, I can just imagine the roar on Slashdot

[anubi]

If Bill Gates read this and decided to buy NASA and assert his "property rights" on his extraterrestial investments.

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Oh, the pain! Oh the pain!

Get with the (space) program, fellas.

[xigxag]

Look, NASA would solve a lot of its budgetary woes if it would just hire somebody professional to come up with names for its various projects. Space Interferometry Mission? WTF is "interferometry"? Sounds like a cancer treatment. "Planet Finder" --- boooring, besides, isn't "Finder" already trademarked by Apple? And who in the tarnation is James Webb? Some hack from the sixties nobody's ever heard of.

Off the cuff, I can think of much snappier names -- "Intragalactic Terrorist Locator" for the planet spotting thingy, "George H.W. Bush Memorial Telescope" should make it politically impossible to cancel the Hubble replacer, and for that Space Interfrazometer Moozit, let's license the sucker to Electronic Arts/Maxis and call it "SIMS in Outer Space."

Re:Get with the (space) program, fellas.

[Goonie]

Call it the "Ronald Reagan Memorial Telescope" and it'd get funded for sure. The Republicans name everything else after the guy...

Re:Privatize NASA.

[Anonymous Coward]

NASA should be privitized. Commerical Satallites already supportly themselves, somewhat, and the rest we can let Richard Branson and John Carmack handle. Why does the already burndened American Taxpayer have to get stuck picking up the tab?

I am glad you saved us tackspayers money buy not atending publick skool.

Re:An Example of a Short Sited Administration

[ErikZ]

I should have known better than to debate with insane people. My bad.