tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573426.post6399598465807111792..comments2024-02-20T15:17:48.594+11:00Comments on A.E.Brain: Obama's Space PlanZoe Brainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13712045376060102538noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573426.post-45475469009551278872010-04-21T15:40:56.477+10:002010-04-21T15:40:56.477+10:00Big surprise from the first person to win a nobel ...Big surprise from the first person to win a nobel prize for campaign promises.<br /><br />--christineAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573426.post-74018786580354719402010-04-17T19:14:10.396+10:002010-04-17T19:14:10.396+10:00To be fair to Obama (which I am usually not), I ha...To be fair to Obama (which I am usually not), I have to say that it would be unrealistic to expect him to announce a four year plan for Mars. Or even an eight-year one. The goal is of necessity beyond his presidency period.<br /><br />And the vagueness is also of necessity, since NASA is not yet in a shape to lay out precise planning for this project. Lets' hope we'll see more in a few months or a year.SnoopyTheGoonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00920565522498918323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573426.post-42089628643735062842010-04-17T11:15:35.904+10:002010-04-17T11:15:35.904+10:00Just felt like commenting to add <a href="...Just felt like commenting to add <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/04/15/obama-lays-out-bold-and-visionary-revised-space-policy/>this.</a><br /><br />$6 billion over five years is definitely some significant funding and I'm all for throwing money at science and engineering. Hopefully some good will come out of this. Unfortunately, this really isn't my area (I'm more of a biochemist).Venehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04252114756864644059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573426.post-24203434501346882392010-04-17T08:14:06.006+10:002010-04-17T08:14:06.006+10:00We will have to change from rocket science to ener...We will have to change from rocket science to energy science.<br /><br /> WhiteAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573426.post-89886778060972271842010-04-17T06:36:42.278+10:002010-04-17T06:36:42.278+10:00That's Pegasus (or a pegasus, if you're no...That's Pegasus (or a pegasus, if you're not referring to the brother of Chrysaor), not a unicorn. Unicorns have a single horn on their heads; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus" rel="nofollow">pegasi</a> have wings.<br /><br />I'm trying to remember the last U.S. president for whom I wasn't skeptical about their NASA policies; I'm not coming up with any. That said, I'm disappointed in some of Obama's current NASA policies.<br /><br />@amandainsjc -<br /> You might be surprised - particularly if you <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factions_in_the_Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29#Libertarian_Democrats" rel="nofollow">replace "liberals" with "Democrats"</a>; while more libertarians are Republican than Democratic, the duopoly system encompasses them on both sides. In his NASA proposals, I'm seeing a significant de-funding (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Budget" rel="nofollow">as a percentage of federal budget, not in absolute monetary terms</a>), with the following significant <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/420990main_FY_201_%20Budget_Overview_1_Feb_2010.pdf" rel="nofollow">changes</a>:<br /><br />1) increase in Earth Science.<br />2) large increase in infrastructure research<br />3) increase (?) in heavy-lift/propulsion R&D<br />4) heavy increase in robotic missions<br />5) mild increase in ISS.<br />6) increase in commercial usage.<br />7) severe drop-off in Space shuttle<br />8) increase in technological investments<br />9) Constellation canceled<br /><br />That said, I'm hardly an expert in this field, feel free to correct any/all of the above.Zimbelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573426.post-31243796752239909822010-04-17T01:26:02.189+10:002010-04-17T01:26:02.189+10:00I just think its ironic, crazy and perverse that O...I just think its ironic, crazy and perverse that O's supporters are touting the benefits of the privatization of spaceflight, right after the HCR debate. Since when do American liberals support libertarianism?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573426.post-60378374069466309592010-04-16T23:22:48.105+10:002010-04-16T23:22:48.105+10:00I'm guessing that Obama is heading in the dire...I'm guessing that Obama is heading in the direction of what Robert Heinlein described in "The Man Who Sold The Moon". <br /><br />The leverage will come from bringing the private sector into commercializing space, rather than the quasi-military/research model that NASA has come to represent.<br /><br />(Not saying that NASA isn't valuable here, but rather that there is a change of mindset on the winds which resets the context in which NASA exists)MgShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11183962674882855323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573426.post-16076023773026905252010-04-16T23:17:00.685+10:002010-04-16T23:17:00.685+10:00Zoe, to me, the most outright stupid thing that ha...Zoe, to me, the most outright stupid thing that has come out of the Obama space review is the suggestion that it makes any sense at all to send astronauts to merely orbit Mars and come back. Any trip to Mars will be dangerous, claustrophobic and (I suspect) mainly dull. That you would do it merely to test life support systems and take some photos which could easily be done by robot probe strikes me as the silliest idea ever.<br /><br />But I haven't yet found anyone else saying this yet...<br /><br />Any thoughts?Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04108945551064939734noreply@blogger.com