Posts in "NASA"

By Zak Slayback at 10:37AM

Jul 25, 2011

Remains of an Obsolete Socialist System

Socialist

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By Stacy Litz at 4:54PM

Jul 8, 2011

Government Funds More than Just NASA

Today marked a moment in history -- the 135th and final space mission of NASA.

I find it ironic that the United States government spends approximately $663 billion a year on overseas military endeavors, yet NASA is the cut they choose to make in the budget. While the government should not be involved with other countries' affairs or pointless wars, it should not be funding a space program either, to be consistent. The aggressive acts of violence and murder in other countries vs. taxing and spending on NASA shows differences in degree of government involvement, but both are inherently immoral and unconstitutional. Atlantis Launch

Many seem to assume that this will be the final trip to space, but in fact, it may open doors to private entities taking the initiative for space exploration in the future. Also, there may not be as much typical waste in funding as seen in most government programs if a private company or individuals fund space travel. For example, we might we see a Google space program in the near future.

Hopefully the end of NASA will raise more awareness to the US government's budget problems, including the wars overseas, being the world police and the domestic war on drugs, rather than being a period of mourning for, most likely, wastefully funding space exploration.

Here's to the future of liberty and privately-funded science!

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By Don Rasmussen at 12:33PM

Jul 8, 2011

Don't Cry for Government Space: The Shuttle Program was a Giant Failure

As the final shuttle flight unfolds over the next few hours or, given the weather, the next few days, politicians, pundits, and former astronauts will laud the success of the shuttle program.

It is all hogwash.

As noted in a Boston Globe editorial, by any metric more tangible than the warm and fuzzies, the space shuttle has been a pretty typical government program...with a body count:

For all the heartfelt sentiment accompanying the end of the program, the sad reality is the space shuttle’s demise was long overdue. Its goal of providing inexpensive, fast, and reliable access to space for government and commercial cargoes never materialized. Shuttle maintenance and refurbishment were too expensive, the delays between flights too long, and the simplicity of a single reusable spacecraft was belied by the need for a new external fuel tank for each flight. The total cost of the program, estimated at about $200 billion, worked out to well over $1 billion per mission. The value of scientific research from experiments on the flight was debatable. And then, of course, there were the tragedies of Challenger and Columbia.

The Government Tries to Launch a Balloon

From Slashdot:

NASA's latest multimillion-dollar stratosphere-bound balloon launch has gone horribly wrong and crashed into a car, turning it over and narrowly missing two elderly people who were observing the launch. The payload fared worse, reportedly being smashed into a 'thousand pieces.'

Video of their hilarious attempt is available here.

Contrast this with an individual enthusiast who spent just $750 to send a balloon into space and captured images like the one below. NASA then called him and begged him to tell them how he did it.

stratosphere

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By John Galt at 7:06AM

Feb 5, 2010

Should NASA Return to the Moon?

As an aerospace engineering student at The University of Texas at Austin, I am particularly affected by this decision. In addition, I have reaped the benefits associated with funding NASA:

zerogravity
(this picture was taken aboard NASA's Weightless Wonder)

I will admit that I once dreamed of working at NASA. Not anymore. In approaching any problem, I often desire to comprehend the underlying principles. This time is no different. One cannot deny that there are benefits to returning to the moon. According to NASA, a few reasons to return to the moon are:

To "[extend] human presence to the moon to enable eventual settlement."
To "[pursue] scientific activities that address fundamental questions about the history of Earth, the solar system and the universe - and about our place in them."

So this is Life...

October 9, 2009, will go down as a the day Obama was announced the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Winner and.....we bombed the moon. Friday morning we bombed the moon in hopes of finding ice amongst the debris.

CNN reported:

NASA said Friday's rocket and satellite strike on the moon was a success, kicking up enough dust for scientists to determine whether or not there is water on the moon.
"We have the data we need to actually address the questions we set out to address," said Anthony Colaprete, principal investigator for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, mission.

Take a guess at how much this all cost? $79 million. Thats right, $79 million. Hmm, what could we do with that money here at home?

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