New Budget NASA Space Science Missions

pertinax18 writes "The New York Times is reporting that 'Some of the most highly promoted missions on NASA's scientific agenda would be postponed indefinitely or perhaps even canceled under the agency's new budget.' This looks to directly impact the types of missions that have been NASA's greatest successes like the Mars Rovers. 'Among the casualties in the budget, released last month, are efforts to look for habitable planets and perhaps life elsewhere in the galaxy, an investigation of the dark energy that seems to be ripping the universe apart, bringing a sample of Mars back to Earth and exploring for life under the ice of Jupiter's moon Europa'"

Comments

Re:You gotta pay your bills

[msbsod]

This may be true for scientists who already established a research program. And it will be difficult to get them back. Those who have tenure will make it somehow until retirement. But students, postdocs and young professors are already facing serious problems. Students are not stupid. If they find that science has no future, then they will do something else. Some numbers are already at an all-time low, like the number of physics students. Most universities in the US have fewer physics students of any age than graduate students at universities in Europe or Asia. It will take a while until the economy feels the impact. When it is too late, we will find that scientists cannot be simply created.

Re:Does anyone disagree with me here?

[Bad D.N.A.]

OK, let's get this misconception out of the way.

misconception my ass.

While there are a lot of things that robots can do, there are a hell of a lot of things they can't. For instance, having a robot on Mars doing geology investigations is great, but all the stuff the rovers take a day to do could be done by a human in just a few minutes.

The amount of time it takes is irrelevant. How much is costs to get the job done is the point.

Robots can't react to new situations the way humans do, either; present one with something outside of its programming and it'll just sit there. And do you really trust the robot to not screw up?

Um... And like there is not a documented paper trail of people screwing up?

There are reasons why humans still drive trucks, fly planes, and operate trains.

What planet do you live on? You have never heard of robots flying planes or operating trains or driving trucks? The military uses flying planes now. Every other airport I go to uses robots to drive the trams. Nearly every distribution plant uses robots to truck goods from one end to the other.

You use the right tool for the right job. And the choice of a human over a robot can sometimes be just another case where you choose the right method for the right situation.

Bullshit

You use the tools you can afford! I would love to use a helicopter to transport me from my house to my work every day. It would save time, the technology is available, what's the downside? I cant afford it

I could hire a doctor to put a bandage on my kids "boo-boo". The doctor is certainly qualified, what's the downside? It's too expensive

I could send a dude to Mars to pick up rocks. "Dude" is certainly qualified, he can do it faster, what is the downside? do you really need the math?