Apollo 13 Anniversary

[AK123]

Related, sort of

http://creativity-on...-sridhar/142644

"If this guy gets his way, most American homes will be powered by a black box that could fit inside a handbag by 2020. Based on a project to help NASA sustain life on Mars, K.R. Sridhar, a mechanical engineer, developed the Bloom Box, which uses fuel-cell technology."

[Hanuman]

Houston: Ability Base here ... Hanuman has landed! That's one small step for man ... one giant leap, toward meeting Martian babes! Over....

[BryanS]

Excellent post... I will go through some points...

The effect is unclear. Lack of clarity creates uncertainty… creates fear…creates an opportunity for Channel 13 to flog the issue for their entire 6 PM broadcast.

What I think sucks about the Obama proposal:

· It’s too long term. We’ll see about eleven Presidential terms before we see Mars. I think we are closer to the technology to get us there. However, we could be far from there, based on changing political tides.

It's all about funding. We could go to Mars, in two years, if Congress would fund the effort to the tune of $500 billion. And going to Mars... is a lot harder than people think. For example, the transit time to get there can range between 4 months and ~1 year. And then another 4 months to a year to get back. 1 to 2 years total travel/mission time. Humans need food and water. That's a lot of food and water for 2 people. Then... there is the "crazy" factor. Imagine being confined to a very small capsule/living quarters for over a year. If you thought driving to El Paso was torture... Imagine being confined to your car for over a year. You'd go mentally out of your mind.

So assume those problems are solved. We some how have a way to put people into hibernation so that they 1.) don't eat much and 2.) are not aware of their travel time. You land on Mars. You are going to need a decent rocket to launch of off Mars, to get back... Nothing like the moon.

There are many problems that need to be solved, over the years, before Mars is even realistic.

In terms of government programs changing with the political tides... that is nothing new. Constellation, as a program, would be in operation today... had it been kicked off early during George W Bush's first term (2000-ish)... It was just simply too big of a program, too late in his presidency to have any chance of surviving a change in political power in this country. I knew from Day 1 in 2004... that if there was a political change coming in 2008... Constellation would be cancelled. And it sure was! Just not enough time for it to take root.

· It negates a program in which we already have a tremendous investment. Inconsistent.

Just because you've spent billions in the past, doesn't mean that if you keep spending billions you will succeed. If you don't fund the program to the level required, you're just throwing good money after bad. Everyone who hugs Constellation and who want to save it... you hear a lot of noise... but what you don't hear is: let's give the program an additional $3 billion a year, every year, for the next 10 years... that it needs to be successful. You don't hear that. "That would be too expensive." Yeah. You're right. But that is what would be needed. So if you don't commit the funding, we'll need to do something else more realistic given the current budget environment.

· It creates a sense of deflation at NASA, and, potentially around space exploration as a whole.

Not necessarily. The second "A" in NASA stands for "Aeronautics." That portion of the NASA budget is increasing. So Langley in Virginia is probably elated. You want more Mars rover type of programs? JPL is getting more funding, they are elated. The ISS's purpose is scientific research. That funding has been increased. Too many people think that all NASA is about is launching space shuttles and astronauts... there's a lot more.

What I like about the Obama proposal:

· Public-private partnerships. I like introducing a profit motive to this. (It’s the American way, dammit.) But seriously, it’s coupling public money with investor money.

It's much more private than in the past... but regardless of who the private partner is (Lockheed, Boeing, SpaceX)... they will be making money. Because NASA will be paying the bill.

I don’t know how this is going to play out for Houston or NASA. I am hopeful for both. It does mean a change in business model for many. You know, sometimes that happens in the non-government funded arena, as well.

NASA, as a whole, will benefit. Houston/JSC will be losing thousands of jobs. Mostly due to the fact that the shuttle program is ending. Even with Constellation... that was going to happen (massive job losses). But that's nothing new... that's how it was arond here in the 1970's between SkyLab and the first shuttle launch...

but until then... Viva Space Shuttle!

...until the bitter(sweet) end...

[musicman]

My apologies too, mm. I hope I didn't offend you too much, and despite my dismissive words, I don't take their deaths lightly.

nah my current lack of time (and frustration with haif access) only allows me scan quickly and the damn radar pic brought back bad memories.