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Journalist: NASA Administrator Has Short Memory on Changing Space Policy (spacenews.com)
MarkWhittington writes: Recently, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden stated that NASA would be "doomed" if the next president were to deviate in any way from the current Journey to Mars program. Space journalist and founder of the America Space website Jim Hillhouse took exception to Bolden's assertion in a letter to the aerospace newspaper Space News. In the process, Hillhouse provides a good summary of how space policy has evolved during the past five years under the Obama administration.
Citation or you made it up.
The course changes by the politics stopped so many good projects, and made it impossible to get anything big done. Just let them finish something. Space projects need time, more than a presidency term.
renowned Slashdot critician Anonymous Coward deliberately refrained from reading The Famed Article because, to quote Coward, "this guy could just say what he has to say in a blog post. Pretending that his writing a letter is a newsworthy event and has to be paraphrased and announced in a news article makes him look like a pompous ass who probably hasn't anything interesting to add to the debate."
Then answer this. Why does windows use \. instead of /.? Why did it ever use a back stroke instead of a forward stroke for path separation?
as long as political hacks are in charge. Bolden is the guy who said that one of his "foremost" tasks is to reach out to the Muslim world.
Fuck that noise. Fly rockets and do science. Let the politicians jerk each other off.
You can blame Bush all you want, and I can point to the fact that it was Obama who wanted to turn NASA into a moslem appeasing agency
http://www.space.com/8725-nasa...
Both arguments wont get us anywhere
I don't care if it is Obama or Bush or Clinton or Reagan or ... they are all politicians and American politicians simply can not understand science
Whether or not NASA survive depends on one thing - the WILL for America to push forward its space program - whatever sitting president wants to dick around it shouldn't become a priority
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Let's build a moon base.
Am I the only one who finds the Jim Hillhouse article difficult to read? Each sentence is packed with so many extraneous details that it's easy to forget the point. Take the following sentence, for example. (Note that this is only one sentence.)
There's a lot happening in that one sentence. The Obama administration is canceling programs. Then the House and Senate are rejecting one proposal and passing another. NASA is being denied a means of reaching space. But then there's a turnaround and two new space programs are created. Oh, and we're told that congress did agree with Obama's proposal for the space station. That was the proposal where private companies would be used for cargo and service missions. Did I forget to mention that the congressional hearings took months but passed with substantial bipartisan majorities? Do you care? Let's also not forget to mention that congress also "designated cislunar space as the destination", but who is that destination is for? I'm not really sure, but I think I've decided that the sentence is about congress, and not about the Obama administration or NASA. I sort of wish I knew that when I started reading the sentence.
Given Boldenâ(TM)s desire to pursue the âoeJourney to Mars,â it would seem only natural that the Orion and SLS programs, the only means currently in development for taking us beyond low Earth orbit, would be doing well since 2010. They are, but not for lack of effort by the Obama administration to underfund them â" proposals that congressional appropriators each year reverse. Since 2012, annual White House proposed budgets for NASA have fallen short of authorized levels by 78 percent and 70 percent respectively for the Orion or SLS programs.
Funny, how, once again, dead end, expensive rocketry projects are hyped as being the "only" way. I'll point to the Falcon Heavy as an obvious alternative platform for NASA to go to Mars. Or if you want competition and can't be bothered to fund other big rocket development, you can fall back to the 20-25 ton range and use more than half a dozen or more different rocket systems throughout the world (Falcon 9, Atlas V Heavy, Delta IV Heavy, Soyuz, Angara, Ariane V, and Chang Zheng 5).
If at the ending of Constellation, Congress had funded deep space projects for NASA rather than the Space Launch System (SLS), NASA could be doing deep space projects now, rather than hypothetical ones some point after 2023.
Funny, how, once again, dead end, expensive rocketry projects are hyped as being the "only" way. I'll point to the Falcon Heavy as an obvious alternative platform for NASA to go to Mars.
First, Falcon Heavy doesn't exist as a production product yet. Second, until we have a robust and competitive group of commercial rocket vendors it will remain necessary for NASA to make sure we have at least one option available, even if that option is economically non-optimal. Even if Falcon Heavy becomes a working and reliable products (and we have every reason to believe it will), tying yourself to a single vendor is still not a good idea if you can avoid it.
If at the ending of Constellation, Congress had funded deep space projects for NASA rather than the Space Launch System (SLS), NASA could be doing deep space projects now, rather than hypothetical ones some point after 2023.
If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts then every day would be Christmas. If you don't have a launch system then you don't have deep space projects. You have to walk before you can run.
> NASA would be doomed
Well guess what. Presidents clobber previous ones' big projects all the time, including previous plans to go to Mars and back to the moon. Obama clobbered the giant rocket that would have taken over for the space shuttle, to save money, and let the Russians ferry us around for some years.
Then it turned out they were still Rooskies.
Now the child of that rocket is back on the fast track, golly.
See, clearing out the previous guy's stuff lets you simultaneously save money and deny him his Kennedy moment coming to fruition. Win win!
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
It's much further along than SLS. SpaceX claims they'll launch it next year. SLS isn't even to the point of starting to build something that can be launched.
True but not relevant to my point. Furthermore what are the contingency plans if SpaceX drops the ball or goes out of business? Don't let optimism cloud your judgement.
No, that isn't NASA's job
I'm afraid it is NASA's job. Congress made it NASA's job. While I agree with you that at this point it shouldn't be their job any longer we haven't made the transition yet and until we do NASA remains the only civilian government agency with the expertise to facilitate this activity. NASA seems to recognize this and is transitioning away but it isn't going to happen overnight. Furthermore NOBODY has more expertise in this stuff than NASA and we would be idiots to just chuck all that knowledge out in reckless pursuit of privatization.
Back at you. NASA had three decade to come up with this new launch system and strong incentive to develop it after the Challenger accident. Where is it?
Perhaps you aren't old enough to remember the Challenger accident. I do. It's the event in my generation where everybody knows where they were when they heard about it. There was NO meaningful discussion about coming up with a replacement launch system for the space shuttle back in the mid-1980s. We hadn't figured out at that time that the shuttle was a boondoggle. The shuttle had only been flying for about 5-6 years when Challenger exploded. You are looking at this in retrospect when the mistakes are obvious. Back then the shuttle was still exciting and shiny and new. You didn't start hearing people decry the shuttle as a waste for another 15-20 years.
SpaceX has demonstrated actual experience at developing and flying new launch systems and the Falcon Heavy is close to first launch.
Several other companies have even more demonstrated actual experience than SpaceX and yet none are working on a heavy lift vehicle. Why do you suppose that is? Furthermore SpaceX is a young company that could easily run into financial difficulty. Do you really think it is sane to put all your eggs in the one basket? I don't. I admire SpaceX as much as most folks here but I'm not foolish enough to trust our space program to them alone.
It's not "candy and nuts" to make the obvious observation that NASA could be using that $3 billion per year for deep space
They can't use the $3 billion for deep space because Congress allocates the funds and NASA wouldn't GET $3 billion/year for deep space. It's a purely hypothetical conjecture about something that is not a political possibility. I agree with you that it is the sort of thing NASA should be working on but the sad reality is that more mundane stuff like getting an economically sane launch system takes precedence right now. We have a bunch of short sighted idiots in Washington who are more worried about cutting their tax bills and getting pork for their districts than building a robust space program. I guarantee you that you will hear close to nothing about the space program during this election cycle.
Bolden's an ass and a political hack. And, absent a fundamental change, Congress is never going to give NASA enough money to establish a meaningful human presence in space. In the meantime, we flush billions down the toilet with monkeys in a can in LEO, starve real space science nearly to death, and pretend we're going to Mars.
The different presidents have certainly had very different priorities for NASA. Mr. Bolden (the head of NASA), said these are the three things Obama asked him to do with NASA (quoting):
When I became the Nasa administrator, he [Obama] charged me with three things.
One, he wanted me to help reinspire children to want to get into science and math;
he wanted me to expand our international relationships;
and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good
TFA leaves out one important change to NASA policy brought by Obama early in his administration. This is not a joke or a smear -- it really happened.
I don't know about that, but the Paris attacks did demonstrate that Obama's point of view that gun control will stop these attacks is so wrong it isn't even funny.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
The White House made first tried excuses ("work with the best engineers from around the world") . Then they sent out a spokesman who said only that he, the spokesman, didn't know what Obama had told Bolden. The spokesman said he didn't know, he didn't say that Obama had not directed NASA to make caressing muslim egos their "foremost priority".
Bolden apparently DID know what Obama directed him to do.
"I don't know" is really not "yeah, no".
I don't know about that, but the Paris attacks did demonstrate that Obama's point of view that gun control will stop these attacks is so wrong it isn't even funny.
Oh please. If a group of suicide bombers/gunmen stormed an American restaurant or gig, they'd have killed enough people to make their point before any of the concealed carriers knew what was happening.
There's a huge difference between a lone nutjob with a handgun and a hunting rifle and a squad of trained terrorists with automatic weapons.
And even if you declared martial law and made every US citizen patrol with their own automatic weapon, the terrorists would just resort to suicide bombs anyway. Although they'd have already destroyed civil society, so maybe they wouldn't even bother.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
1. Schedule: SLS is only a few months behind schedule (was due to fly by end of 2017 now planned for mid 2018) - and only because the Obama admin keeps choking it for cash and slow-walking the entire effort because the President is thin-skinned and hates that congress (including many democrats) ordered him to build it. Falcon9H on the other hand is several YEARS behind schedule and currently has a less-certain first-launch date.
2. Class: SLS is a monster rocket, larger and much more capable than the Saturn V that put men on the moon. Falcon9H will struggle to carry as much as a Delta4H to the same orbits. In lifting capacity, the Falcon9H is a fraction of even the early version of SLS. In VOLUME, the Falcon9H is even worse. An SLS could replace the entire manned part of the ISS in just 2 launches.
The argument by spacex fanboys is that you can just divide the mass of what you want to launch and launch on a bunch of smaller rockets. This is a variation on the "mythical man month". Further, there is no evidence that SpaceX is capable of launching 6 Falcon9's in one year on a schedule, so if you need six or more of those to match an SLS you're better off flying the SLS just once and getting your entire payload into space on schedule in one piece.
I'm not anti-spacex, just trying to knock some of the pot residue off the fanboy arguments. Truth is: we're gonna likely end-up with a mutant version of Constellation: Instead of a 10-meter diameter super-monster Ares V unmanned cargo launch vehicle partnered with crews on the skinny pencil Ares I, we are likely to see missions involving the sortof-monster 8.5-meter diameter SLS partnered with crews flying on Falcon (some missions can optimise SLS by flying unmanned and maxing-out the up-mass then having the crew and their capsule meet the SLS payload on-orbit as was the plan for Constellation)
You do realize that you didn't actually disagree with anything I said right?
France has strict gun control laws, they have now had three attacks in the past (8?) months with automatic weapons.
Australia has strict gun control laws, and is an island, but still has attacks (Sydney Cafe attack).
But in the US, if we just increase gun control, it will solve all our violence problems (according to Obama and many of the Democratic party). The evidence says that no amount of gun control will stop the attacks, they will still happen even if every gun in the US is melted down, so why are we trying to take the guns awa from people who have never hurt anyone with their gun?
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
Gun control is not necessarily the same thing as taking everyone's gun away. Your language comes close to conflating the two. Democrats and Obama are not calling for everyone to turn in their guns. I would say it is well understood in political circles that trying to take away guns in this country is a stupid and useless endeavor. Millions of people will fight to the death or start a civil war for their right to continue to own them. We know this and so do politicians. Most of what people are asking for are 3 day waiting periods and background checks; the great majority of people in the country agree that these things should be done. There's a rational argument to be made there. "Gun control" is not the same as taking away guns. Just like speed limits don't take away your ability to drive.
Banning specific military style guns (assault weapons) is often suggested by Dems and Obama specifically, but we already do that. You can't buy a hand grenade at Walmart, you know? You don't get to own your own armored tank. There has to be a line somewhere. Though I agree with you that little would change even if the assault weapon ban was passed again. I'm just saying, it isn't all or nothing. There are reasonable and rational measures that can minimize damage in the future. And yelling "You can't take my guns!" instead of discussing them doesn't help.
Although doing nothing and bitching is certainly easier.
"Apk doesn't think DNS servers are worth running & believes Microsoft Active Directory can run w/out DNS." - by Coren22 (1625475) on Tuesday October 27, 2015
Where'd I say it? Show us (not illogic logic but where I literally said it). I say AD needs internal DNS far back as 2007
http://forums.tweaktown.com/wi...
See "To warn users who have ActiveDirectory/AD LAN-WAN setups to NOT use external DNS servers" there in my security guide.
Fact: You shoot your mouth off lying about it & me, hmmm?
(It's your mentally damaged goods assburgers brain acting up trying to put words in my mouth I never said? Yes...)
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Where did I say I don't use DNS too?
Clue: I do & detailed it for you AGAIN (via my std. post on DNS vs. hosts) -> http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
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"You must really suck at programming" - by Coren22 on Monday November 23, 2015
What've you programmed? Other /.'ers disagree:
"his hosts program is actually pretty good" - by xenotransplant (4179011) on Monday August 10, 2015 @03:34PM (#50287195)
"I like your host file system." - by Karmashock (2415832) on Wednesday September 09, 2015 @03:57PM (#50489401)
"APK is kinda right... I've given up on JS based adblocking and gone to blackholing in /etc/hosts, just like it was back in the 90s. The computational load has gotten intolerable for any ad-blocking using JS. I've tried his hosts file generating software. It works." - by bmo (77928) on Thursday October 15, 2015 @11:30AM (#50736071)
"his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources" by alexgieg (948359) on Friday September 25, 2015 @09:57AM (#50596461)
"No complaints from me, I like APK's spam. Reminds me to use a host file. Also, his stuff is free." - by aaaaaaargh! (1150173) on Tuesday November 17, 2015 @09:31AM (#50947415)
APK
P.S.=> Con't. in 2/6... apk
"figured out why privilege escalation's a bad thing?" - by Coren22 on Tuesday September 22, 2015
How else can I programmatically update hosts itself?
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"it requires elevation to write hosts" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Wednesday September 23, 2015
Hypocrite later admits it!
Even MalwareBytes AntiMalware DEMANDS it or it can't do a job fully like many security tools!
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"Needing admin privileges every time a program updates is poor design" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Tuesday November 10, 2015
Mine doesn't to get new data to update hosts vs. threats. Only hosts itself updates need it vs. WFP/SFP. Users set it too. It's not programmatic impersonation.
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"90's tech to fight modern war" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Tuesday November 10, 2015
Ozymandias/Watchmen per a namesake:
"I resolved to apply antiquities teachings" (hosts) "to our world today & began my path to conquest - Conquest not of men but of the evils that beset them: Fossil Fuels (antispyware), Oil (antivir), Nuclear Power (addons) are like a drug & you gentlemen along w/ foreign interests are the pushers"
It works Aryeh Goretsky NOD32/ESET hosts = good security-> http://it.slashdot.org/comment...
Oliver Day (Symantec) too-> http://www.securityfocus.com/c...
MalwareBytes' hpHosts' Admin hosts + RECOMMENDS my APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-2 32/64-bit-> http://hosts-file.net/?s=Downl...
APK
P.S.=> Con't. in #3/6... apk
"I guess we should avoid your crap, it looks like it is marked as malware." - by Coren22 (1625475) on Monday November 02, 2015 @03:52PM (#50850445)
62 reputable sources + /. users say different:
Safe by 57 antivirus programs in 64-bit model https://www.virustotal.com/en/...
+
the 32-bit model https://www.virustotal.com/en/...
&
Per VirScan (installer too)-> http://f.virscan.org/APKHostsF...
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MalwareBytes' hpHosts Admin (MalwareBytes employee) hosts & recommends it -> http://hosts-file.net/?s=Downl... & MalwareBytes = BEST antivirus per this VERY recent testing of them all http://www.av-test.org/en/news...
(& he certified my source http://slashdot.org/comments.p... - he wouldn't host it, much less recommend it, minus that...) /.'ers say my work is good too:
"his hosts program is actually pretty good" - by xenotransplant (4179011) on Monday August 10, 2015 @03:34PM (#50287195)
"I like your host file system." - by Karmashock (2415832) on Wednesday September 09, 2015 @03:57PM (#50489401)
"APK is kinda right... I've given up on JS based adblocking and gone to blackholing in /etc/hosts, just like it was back in the 90s. The computational load has gotten intolerable for any ad-blocking using JS. I've tried his hosts file generating software. It works." - by bmo (77928) on Thursday October 15, 2015 @11:30AM (#50736071)
"his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources" by alexgieg (948359) on Friday September 25, 2015 @09:57AM (#50596461)
"No complaints from me, I like APK's spam. Reminds me to use a host file. Also, his stuff is free." - by aaaaaaargh! (1150173) on Tuesday November 17, 2015 @09:31AM (#50947415)
APK
P.S.=> Con't in part #4/6... apk
"His newest post is trying to refute that MiTM attack opportunity his software provides" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Wednesday November 18, 2015
I DISPROVED it: Hardcoded favs users provide themselves are REVERSE DNS verified & my program filters 5,500++ false positives:
1.) Search engines
2.) Antivirus (e.g. updaters)
3.) Security community sites
4.) Captchas, brower home pages + download pages
5.) Ebay/Amazon (shopper & banking)
(Security community I get hosts data from do false positives filters in current data + removal lists).
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"won't demonstrate security of his product be exposing the source (someone might steal it!)" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Wednesday November 18, 2015
I don't give away work to be stolen OR misused like GOOGLE CHROME http://it.slashdot.org/story/1...
"the secretary at MalwareBytes took a look at his source code and said it looked all good to them" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Wednesday November 18, 2015
My ware went thru code verification by Mr. Steven Burn of Malwarebytes' hpHosts
http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
A competent coder & BEST security researcher I know of FROM THE BEST ANTIMALWARE THERE IS http://www.av-test.org/en/news...
NOT a secretary!
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YOU BLEW IT ON ADMIN PRIV TOO: My program doesn't require it hosts does (WFP/SFP): my program protects hosts beyond it!
I.E.-> I run manually minus admin priv & drag result to hosts naming it "hosts" overwriting original.
Only auto update needs it (WFP/SFP) & users set it themselves in program shortcut: Not programmatic impersonation.
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DNS introduces a SECURITY ISSUE RIDDLED SINGLE POINT OF FAILURE & doesn't secure down to endpoints on a LAN -> http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
How I use remote filtering DNS combined w/ hosts is there showing many DNS security issues hosts overcome.
APK
P.S.=> Con't in part #5/6... apk
"Virus scanners/Adblock software don't need admin priv to update" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Tuesday November 10, 2015
Neither does my program. AV does to remove threats - Adblock addons = Vastly INFERIOR in abilities + efficiency vs. hosts as I proved & no one proved me wrong to date!
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"your software does" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Tuesday November 10, 2015
No hosts do (WFP/SFP) - Intake update of new hosts data doesn't!
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"won't reveal your source code" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Tuesday November 10, 2015
I don't owe you it. I don't give away work to be stolen OR misused like GOOGLE CHROME http://it.slashdot.org/story/1...
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"What's stopping you from pointing my bank's web site at your private server?" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Tuesday November 10, 2015
I don't keep a server. Security guru (not - you create no ware for security & your forensics skills = non-existent): Put it in a VM, trace it via process monitor + wireshark (don't need code)!
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"the possibility of being caught, which would be pretty hard to catch w/ such a large hosts file, as no one can go through it manually." - by Coren22 (1625475) on Tuesday November 10, 2015
I put hardcoded fav sites @ top of hosts for speed & reliabilty - spotted easily & bulk of hosts = sorted blocked known bad threats provided by the security community (filtered vs. 5,500++ false positive possibles in my program & by current security community data).
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"What are you going to do when Windows gets rid of the hosts file completely?" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Tuesday November 10, 2015
Hasn't happened!
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"They have already taken steps to make it useless in Windows 10." - by Coren22 (1625475) on Tuesday November 10, 2015
It works there!
Telemetry's killed 10 by itself: VISTA = Win10 = Win8 = flops - who're you fooling other than yourself?
APK
P.S.=> Con't. in #6/6... apk
Coren22 'eats his words' vs. me 2x yet again:
"introduces risk you are relying on a 3rd party to update a hosts file potentially opening you up to MITM attacks" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Tuesday November 17, 2015
How? My prog puts entries in as non-blocking to hostnames on ones users give it as favs to speed up @ TOP of hosts REVERSE DNS VERIFIED!
(For more speed, & reliability + security - in RAM as 1st resolver queried = faster & more secure vs. remote DNS w/ all its security issues in Kaminsky flaw, DNSChanger malware IP stack settings, routers bushwhacked in DNS settings, rogue DNS, Open DNS servers abused by malware. It aids in reliability vs. redirects).
YOU'D SPOT IT INSTANTLY @ TOP OF CUSTOM HOSTS & can easily edit anything you want out!
(Rest = known bad sites from 10 reputable security community sites for blocking - the MAJORITY of what's in my hosts files!)
+ my sources do removal lists vs. false positives & helped me create a "FP" filter in my program (5,500++ of them)!
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"maybe one day you can get a score 5 comment" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Tuesday November 17, 2015
See subject & ~ 12 +5 upmods: "Eat your words" (1st one: You tried using what I post there against me to FAIL):
+5 'modded up' posts by "yours truly" (11):
http://news.slashdot.org/comme...
http://tech.slashdot.org/comme...
http://news.slashdot.org/comme...
http://science.slashdot.org/co...
http://tech.slashdot.org/comme...
http://hardware.slashdot.org/c...
http://news.slashdot.org/comme...
http://news.slashdot.org/comme...
http://hardware.slashdot.org/c...
http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...
http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...
"You believe you are getting the better of me" - by Coren22 (1625475) on Tuesday November 17, 2015
YOU GOT THE BEST OF YOURSELF in fails & lies about me. Your immature signatures about me SCREAM you're butthurt - Did it to yourself.
APK
P.S.=> You fail Coren22... apk