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Senate Panel Authorizes Money For Mission To Mars (usatoday.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from USA Today: With a new president on the horizon, a key Senate committee moved Wednesday to protect long-standing priorities of the nation's space program from the potential upheaval of an incoming administration. Members of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee passed a bipartisan bill authorizing $19.5 billion to continue work on a Mars mission and efforts to send astronauts on private rockets to the International Space Station from U.S. soil -- regardless of shifting political winds. Under the Senate bill, NASA would have an official goal of sending a crewed mission to Mars within the next 25 years, the first time a trip to the Red Planet would be mandated by law. The legislation would authorize money for different NASA components, including $4.5 billion for exploration, nearly $5 billion for space operations and $5.4 billion for science. Beyond money, the measure would: Direct NASA to continue working on the Space Launch System and Orion multi-purpose vehicle that are the linchpins of a planned mission to send astronauts to Mars by the 2030s. The bill includes specific milestones for an unmanned exploration mission by 2018 and a crewed exploration mission by 2021. Require development of an advanced space suit to protect astronauts on a Mars mission. Continue development of the Commercial Crew Program designed to send astronauts to the space station -- no later than 2018 -- on private rockets launched from U.S. soil. Expand the full use and life of the space station through 2024 while laying the foundation for use through 2028. Allow greater opportunities for aerospace companies to conduct business in Low Earth Orbit. Improve monitoring, diagnosis and treatment of the medical effects astronauts experience from spending time in deep space.
"an unmanned exploration mission by 2018"
It's too bad no one thought of that 40 years ago. We could have had an unmanned exploration mission on Mars back in 1976 or so.
Oh. Wait. Viking landed on Mars in 1976, didn't it.
40 F'ing years ago. Are we maybe kind of done with the exploratory crap, and ready to send people yet?
Let's see... we went from the first autogyro to landing on the moon in 40 years. Now it looks like we've moved from an unmanned landing on Mars ... to Yet Another Unmanned Landing On Mars(tm) over the last 40 years.
Good job, dudes.
Most of that is because Americas factories have moved to China. Most of what China builds is exported. Reduce your consumption and you will reduce China's too.
I bet you blame India completely for the Bhopal disaster too.
See, this is the real problem. You move your most pollutive and dangerous shit overseas and then blame those countries when they are building the stuff you want.
There are over 300 million Americans. We do have the ability to work on multiple projects at once.
The problem with global warming or humanity issues isn't lack of money or resources. But the fact such changes will be in peoples behavior and culture. Money and government can't solve that by themselves.
A manned trip to mars. Is a PR stunt. But a PR stunt we really need. We have been overloaded with news that shows how we are such bad people. We need a big accomplishment to remind people that we can be better.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
The bill includes specific milestones for an unmanned exploration mission by 2018 and a crewed exploration mission by 2021.
So in other words its a ton of hot air and complete horseshit. At best it's a way to secure funding for NASA under a label that'll be hard to attack - HAY U GUIES LETS GO TO MARS!!1! is the latest pop-sci meme after all. The Lunar missions only happened because of the most intense military/industrial standoff in human history - and even then there were Presidential advisers doing their damnedest to kill the Moon missions. The political will to undertake the Apollo program was purely the result of the Cold War standoff - where two superpowers were locked in an existential deathmatch - and the specific technology to deliver astronauts could also deliver thermonuclear warheads to enemy territory.
The likes of Apollo will never happen again. If you weren't convinced that "25 years to Mars" is a horseshit timeframe, its appearance in a Congressional budget bill should remove all doubt.
The schools in the US are better funded than any other school on the face of the planet. If there is a problem with the age of the texts it's not a budget issue. Instead of demanding more money be tossed onto the bonfire of public education maybe it's time to ask why we can't get better students from a system that is drowning in money by that standards of every other nation on earth.
Politicians have once again monopolized the consciousness of the public with cries for funding. We have the best funded education and military in the world for all of human history but they somehow still keep those carrots on a string while wielding around the stick of funding. It blows my mind that you people are so easily fooled by this hucksters' con. When are you finally going to say enough is enough and stop bowing to the fearmongering from mainstream politics? Stop acting like this is some high school football game by playing partisan politics and start demanding accountability and results for your tax dollars.
Actually, the moon shot was one of the things that did a lot for US economy. Not only by the directly noticeable technological advances. Of course you had an incredible boost in a wide field of technologies. Propulsion. Electronics. Metallurgy. Plastics. Data processing. And so on. Lots and lots and lots of breakthroughs and developments that would otherwise have taken decades instead of being done "before this decade is out".
You also had a lot of supporting technologies that developed during this time. Hell, some were pretty much invented at that time. Process management and systematic creation of work routines in office positions was pretty much a novelty back then. Dedicated positions with defined interfaces between them, and how this is being documented and interwoven with technology, was a complex but crucial part of the organization of the moon shots. This translated incredibly well to corporate management and you can actually see productivity rise in the 1960s in the US. This was technology that wasn't so immediately visible and it took the other countries a while to actually realize where that productivity boost comes from.
But one of the most important factors was the human factor. First, people saw that these things work. They could see first hand that these changes are GOOD! Today, when a new process is introduced in the company, the resistance is usually incredibly high. What do we need that for? Why should we change, our old way is good? Who died and made you king? Here, you had NASA workers who took their experience with them when they left for a job in the economy, and they knew that these processes and these management structures worked. They knew it first hand. And anyone not knowing it first hand could see it. That's the stuff that got us to the moon, that works!
And of course pulling this feat off gave the country a boost to its self esteem. Remember, that was also the time of racial tension and foreign wars that don't run so well (sounds familiar?). And then there was this "small step" of a man, some thousand miles away. Moreover, it was something the whole country could stand behind. Because everyone could say that he had a part in it. From the guy at the MDD plant who welded the tank to the farmer in Kansas whose wheat was probably used to create the astronaut's food. It was an US effort. As in WE DID THAT. And that feeling lasted a pretty long time. You had role models that convinced young people to get into engineering and study.
And believe me, that would be a LOT better than what now doubles as role models for our youth!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The F35 is mostly pork barrelly. Hence the pig tag.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I'm pretty sure that something like this would also be seen favorably in the rest of the world. The reaction of the moonshot was also one of admiration and praise for the efforts of the US, and the general, worldwide feeling that the US is _the_ country, that they can do anything and that they'll show us the way.
Right now, the US is regarded as something between laughing stock and schoolyard bully.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.