Slashdot Mirror
NASA Rolls Out Space Exploration Roadmap
MarkWhittington writes "NASA and the space agencies of a variety of countries, including members of the European Union, Canada, Japan, Russia, India, the Ukraine, and South Korea, have rolled out the latest version of a space exploration roadmap (PDF). NASA and its partners have created two scenarios, called 'Asteroid Next' and 'Moon Next.' This represents the continuing argument over which destination astronaut explorers should go to first. Should it be an Earth approaching asteroid, as President Obama insists? Or should it be the moon, as many people in Congress, NASA, and NASA's partner agencies suggest? In any event, all roads lead to Mars in the current plan. Both visits to an asteroid and to the moon are considered practice runs for what will be needed to go to Mars."
NASA needs guaranteed funding and a minimum of Congressional oversight.
How about we go to an asteroid that's landing on the moon?
The rovers were a success. Now it is time to test our ability to create a long term orbital platform. I'm for the asteroid. China has shown an interest in going to the moon. Let them perform those experiments.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
Roadmap? Why not a starchart?
1. Adopt a plan
2. Spend a ton of money
3. Abandon achievements and the plan.
4. Repeat.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Let me be the first one in this thread to advocate for THE CASE FOR MARS by Robert Zubrin. They should skip the asteroid and the moon, and start sending robotic missions to Mars today. When the robots have manufactured a liveable environment (e.g. caves or lava tubes) and enough fuel for an emergency return trip, then you send the astronauts.
The catering?
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Many people don't give a shit about exploration if there is no human present.
Yea the rovers have been a great success and they have some more in the works, but if we don't land boots on the ground the thought is that we did nothing.
It's not graft-driven government corruption, it's a ratings gimmick. If the majority of Americans start giving a shit about exploration then there will be more pressure on congress to fund NASA better. At this time most people just plain don't give a shit so NASA's budget is getting diminished.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
We choose to go to the moon in this decade, and to do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.
I truly pity you, sir. I'll get my grandchildren to send you a nice postcard from Alpha Centauri.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Only true-believing sci fi space adventure magical religious cultists are gullible enough to swallow the "space exploration" excuse.
Boy, you are brave. Dissing 98% of the Slashdot demographic.
And while you're correct on purely rational grounds, humans aren't purely rational and canning manned flight for just robotics leaves a lot of emotion on the ground. Given that space exploration really comprises a trivial amount of human and financial capital, all things considered, the added emotional involvement of human spaceflight is more than justified.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
I was eight years old when Neil Armstrong set boots on the Moon; I should have lived to see a thriving colony on Mars! I'm not dead yet, but these sickening roadmaps make it obvious that the chance of me living long enough to see ANY offworld colony is pretty slim. What the fuck happened?
I share Neil Armstrong's frustration, but I don't blame NASA; NASA isn't the problem. The problem is that the species is dominated by short-sighted, ignorant, isolationist fools... and that foolish majority is not only allowed to choose our leadership but is also the pool from which that leadership is chosen. WE collectively are the problem.
We've used NASA as a political football in a decades-long game of tug-of-war; how would you like to administer or work in an agency whose funding and priorities get temptingly dangled close enough to nibble one year but then yanked far out of reach the next, at the whim of Congressional purseholders beholden to public attitudes and corporate shareholders? NASA has been suffering from manic depression for decades because of it.
Neil needs to place the blame squarely where it belongs. How many more generations of visionaries will have their hopes and dreams crushed under the weight of an ignorant mob of billions?
The reason is that private space wants to go to the moon. We should take advantage of this. The X-prizes, and COTS approach is paying off with equipment being developed. Even the sub-orbitals, such as blue origin, will be interesting in that their equipment with some mods and MINIMAL amounts of ground set-up, will be capable of working on/off the moon. Basically, the moon is a good step for private space along with gov. help. But when going beyond the moon, that is where NASA should focus. Sending a small crew to an asteroid is a good first step to Mars. Well, that is the kind of things that private space will NOT do. Likewise, having NASA and others work on tugs esp. nuclear engines such as NERVA, makes good sense.
Private space is planning on being on the moon by 2020.
So, lets do both the moon and an asteroid.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.