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Trump Offered NASA Unlimited Funding To Put People on Mars by 2020, Report Says (nymag.com)
From a report, based on a book by Cliff Sims, who worked as a communications official for Trump on his presidential campaign and in the West Wing: As the clock ticked down, Trump "suddenly turned toward the NASA administrator." He asked: "What's our plan for Mars?" Lightfoot explained to the president -- who, again, had recently signed a bill containing a plan for Mars -- that NASA planned to send a rover to Mars in 2020 and, by the 2030s, would attempt a manned spaceflight. "Trump bristled," according to Sims. He asked, "But is there any way we could do it by the end of my first term?"
Sims described the uncomfortable exchange that followed the question, with Lightfoot shifting and placing his hand on his chin, hesitating politely and attempting to let Trump down easily, emphasizing the logistical challenges involving "distance, fuel capacity, etc. Also the fact that we hadn't landed an American anywhere remotely close to Mars ever." Sims himself was "getting antsy" by this point. With a number of points left to go over with the president, "all I could think about was that we had to be on camera in three minutes .. And yet we're in here casually chatting about shaving a full decade off NASA's timetable for sending a manned flight to Mars. And seemingly out of nowhere."
Sims described the uncomfortable exchange that followed the question, with Lightfoot shifting and placing his hand on his chin, hesitating politely and attempting to let Trump down easily, emphasizing the logistical challenges involving "distance, fuel capacity, etc. Also the fact that we hadn't landed an American anywhere remotely close to Mars ever." Sims himself was "getting antsy" by this point. With a number of points left to go over with the president, "all I could think about was that we had to be on camera in three minutes .. And yet we're in here casually chatting about shaving a full decade off NASA's timetable for sending a manned flight to Mars. And seemingly out of nowhere."
Nobody else, Republican or Democrat would ever suggest such a ridiculous and obviously ego catering idea.
Sure they would. They just wouldn't do it publicly.
With Trump, there is no filter. What he says in private is what he has in public. This is what his supporters love, and his detractors hate.
If he asked the same question of Elon Musk, he would have had a yes. Of course, Elon has a long track record of missing deadlines, but if SpaceX didn't have to use profits from regular launches to fund their Starship program, they could probably move it forward faster.
It's also a leadership methodology used by very experienced leaders. Of people involved in space programs, Korolev comes to mind. Get your engineering team, and then ask them to do the impossible. Offer them infinite support. Listen to them tell you it's impossible anyway. Ask for timetable with infinite resources.
You will very quickly see which engineers are good at their job, as they'll start thinking in ways they haven't thought when they were focused on getting budgetary acceptance. And that's how Korolev got Soviet space program to crush US one early on, and that's how US space program put the man on the moon first after Korolev died. You plant the necessary ideas in engineers' heads, then you take off the constraints and then you see which ones flake out because they can't handle it. Korolev was famous for even literally dumping all rocket scientists when they would tell him the project he proposed is impossible and go head hunting in other fields for talent that wouldn't be locked into preconceptions. That's how the engines that Lockheed Martin people flat out claimed to be impossible to make in 2000s were made in 1970s.
In this case, this report suggests that these two men flaked out. They couldn't start thinking beyond budget constraints and start thinking outside the familiar box when it was called for. Which is understandable, as NASA has been criminally underfunded for last two decades, to the point where if you aren't someone who's primary talent is in "meeting the budgetary needs", you probably quit long ago or were let go.
He's all of the "bad kids" in Wonka combined. He wants everything for himself (NOW) like Veruca, he watches TV like Mike, he eats like Augustus, and while he doesn't chew gum like Violet (that I know of), substitute Twitter and you have the final piece in place. Someone get Trump a "golden ticket" and a tour of Willy Wonka's factory.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
They have not yet solved the problem of humans surviving several months of radiation in space yet -- I'd call that a "new technology that needs to be made", although I suppose 100 tons of lead shielding would probably do the job...
Actually it's not that bad. Current estimates are that a Mars round trip will take about 60% of an astronaut's career limit and that below 16 feet of Martian soil radiation will be Earth level. With a reasonable surface budget you're straddling the career limits, but note that they mean +3% chance of dying from cancer, it's not like a lethal dose or anything. The biggest dynamic is solar flares which are fairly low power and also directional so possible to shield against. Most think there'll be an emergency shelter inside the water tank, because water is quite effective at those energy levels. There's also the galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) that you can't shield much against, but they aren't a blocker for an exploration mission. They'd make it really hard to make any kind of permanent settlement though.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
How about we send Trump himself?
How is this different than any other business? A CTO with a million things on their plate may come to you and ask if you can speed up SAP deployment to a year.
It's a good question.
It's not a good question if you're about to give a presentation about the current deployment plan in 3 minutes and the CTO is suddenly acting pissed off and now wants it done before his contract re-negotiation.
1) If the CTO cared that much they could have asked the question before the big presentation.
2) The SAP deployment is for the company, not to pad the CTO's resume
3) It's your big moment, giving the presentation on all your hard work. Now the CTO is pissed off at you for no good reason and you're thinking about their unreasonable request.
You know I once saw a brilliant person taste a paint chip because they were curious about the taste.
Therefore if Trump starts eating paint he must be brilliant also!!!
I stole this Sig