Quote:
This just news in, the Bush-led campaign for space exploration to Mars will not be initiated until 2030
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/01/1 ... index.htmlSo lets see here...[$12 billion x 5] + $1 billion = $61 billion...and thats just the beginning with only 5 years ahead folks! Planning for Mars will be a task far away into the future. You had better live till then.
You read that wrong I think. Its a TOTAL of 12 billion spread out over 5 years, ~$2.5 billion per year. Only $1 billion of that is NEW money the rest is taken from other areas of the budget. Also, for anyone who thinks this is a lot of money I will point out the the total US budget is over $1
trillion, NASAs budget is only a fraction of 1 percent. I don't see how $200 million a year is going to totally bankrupt the country.
The Man In Black wrote:
There is the sad fact that NASA people are institutional folk, on the dole etc etc., and notorious in the private sector for thinking inside the box to the point that would amaze most people.
Personally I don't like NASA that much, it has thrown its wait around enough to discourage private space exploration that I'm starting to get annoyed.
-MiB
Yes, the "not invented here" syndrome is a major factor at NASA and has killed a lot of good ideas. :( On the other hand a lot of good ideas that NASA had were killed by congress stealing their money for personal pork projects.
On another site there was a poll asking who would get to Mars first; the US, Europe or China. I voted for China because I no longer believe that our government will provide the long term funding to get us there. I still have a slight hope (but thats all it is) that a private venture will get a station going and then inevitably move outward. This would be the best thing of course but I'm not going to hold my breath.