Space Exploration

Are NASA's future missions and budget justified?

  • It's worth the time and expenditures

    Votes: 223 66.0%

  • Complete waste of money

    Votes: 41 12.1%

  • We need to explore, but not at the current cost

    Votes: 74 21.9%
  • Total voters
    338
#502
#502
GoBigOrangeUT said:
Our God is an awesome God! Even the "empty" vacuum of space has material that God made!
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False. Spacetime is made of the invisible holy pasta sauce that was flung from His noodley appendage 13.8 billion years ago. He did it all just for us because clearly we are at the center of everything.
 

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#504
#504
cool video, goes further into how much of a back water our galaxy is. If i read their map correctly it looked like we were pretty close to the edge that was getting one direction vs going the other way.
 
#505
#505
Interesting.

How India Mounted the World’s Cheapest Mission to Mars

AI-CK972_IMARS_G_20140923061820.jpg
 
#506
#506
Who said anything was cheaper in the US or we didn't waste a s*** ton of money on everything?
 
#508
#508
I was going to ask how sophisticated it was compared to US or EU probes.

And we won't even get into weight since theirs is under 200 pounds while ours weigh almost ten times that.

10X the cost though...
 
#509
#509
BearCat204 said:
I would wait til it actually reaches Mars orbit before we uncorked the bottle.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/world/asia/on-a-shoestring-india-sends-orbiter-to-mars.html?_r=0

NEW DELHI — An Indian spacecraft affectionately nicknamed MOM reached Mars orbit on Wednesday, beating India’s Asian rivals to the Red Planet and outdoing the Americans, the Soviets and the Europeans in doing so on a maiden voyage and a shoestring budget.

The Mars Orbiter Mission, or MOM, was intended mostly to prove that India could succeed in such a highly technical endeavor — and to beat China. As Mr. Modi and others have noted, India’s trip to Mars, at a price of $74 million, cost less than the Hollywood movie “Gravity.” NASA’s almost simultaneous — and far more complex — mission to Mars cost $671 million.

Scientists and engineers of the Indian Space Research Organization celebrated after the historic event. Credit Jagadeesh Nv/European Pressphoto Agency
Success was by no means assured. Of the 51 attempts to reach Mars, only 21 have succeeded, and none on any country’s first try, Mr. Modi noted. In 2012, China tried and failed, and in 1999, Japan also failed.
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They made it. A success on multiple levels.
 
#510
#510
India says, "Step back, China!"

According to wiki it didn't start the project until 2010. Only four years to complete the nation's first mission to Mars.
 
#512
#512
If India can do it that cheap then I'm all for Britain investing in our own domestic space probes. But we do already give Esa a large amount of funding.
 
#514
#514
my uncle works with NASA, and he has told me several times we could directly cut half the costs if there wasn't so much interference from the government. the different consultants and contractors are not allowed to talk directly to each other and this leads to an unbelievable amount of problems which just slows us down and costs us money as elements have to be redesigned constantly because they don't fit together.
 
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#515
#515
LouderVol said:
my uncle works with NASA, and he has told me several times we could directly cut half the costs if there wasn't so much interference from the government. the different consultants and contractors are not allowed to talk directly to each other and this leads to an unbelievable amount of problems which just slows us down and costs us money as elements have to be redesigned constantly because they don't fit together.
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Whole lot of money for nothing either way.
 
#517
#517
i wouldn't throw NASA under the bus so much if I were you. the modern age came from them
 
#518
#518
LouderVol said:
my uncle works with NASA, and he has told me several times we could directly cut half the costs if there wasn't so much interference from the government. the different consultants and contractors are not allowed to talk directly to each other and this leads to an unbelievable amount of problems which just slows us down and costs us money as elements have to be redesigned constantly because they don't fit together.
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Which is why I don't object to the privatization of space exploration to an extent. Too much government bureaucracy tends to make things complicated.

NASA needs a goal (as stated before) that doesn't change with each Presidential Administration. We got to the Moon in 1969 because Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon all continued with the common goal of getting there.
 
#519
#519
LouderVol said:
my uncle works with NASA, and he has told me several times we could directly cut half the costs if there wasn't so much interference from the government. the different consultants and contractors are not allowed to talk directly to each other and this leads to an unbelievable amount of problems which just slows us down and costs us money as elements have to be redesigned constantly because they don't fit together.
Click to expand...

Mind expounding on this a bit?
 
#521
#521
Grand Vol said:
Which is why I don't object to the privatization of space exploration to an extent. Too much government bureaucracy tends to make things complicated.

NASA needs a goal (as stated before) that doesn't change with each Presidential Administration. We got to the Moon in 1969 because Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon all continued with the common goal of getting there.
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How about a manned mission to Mars? That seems like a common goal that most people could get behind.
 
#522
#522
Grand Vol said:
Which is why I don't object to the privatization of space exploration to an extent. Too much government bureaucracy tends to make things complicated.

NASA needs a goal (as stated before) that doesn't change with each Presidential Administration. We got to the Moon in 1969 because Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon all continued with the common goal of getting there.
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If its funded by taxpayer dollars, there will always be Government oversight....yeah I laughed, and bureaucracy. I'm all for the total privatization of space exploration, but with National Security issues, I dont think it will ever happen here. JMO
 
#525
#525
BearCat204 said:
Mind expounding on this a bit?
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he deals with loading all the equipment, so he has to know all the different sizes and weights for each piece of equipment and some power loads for some pieces as well that have to stay on. Well the government comes out with the contract and requirements then the contractor makes it and sends the specks to my uncles company. however the government redacts, changes, doesn't allow them to use a lot of the information needed. basically he doesn't know what he is getting, except that it doesn't exceed the original maximums until he gets it. makes balancing impossible. He also says the government expects them to work the same hours as the government, which really isn't conducive to business. as i have stated the various contractors can't talk to each other but have to go throw a government agency which decides what to pass on to whom, so a lot of time needed communication just doesn't happen.

he has also told stories about when there is an administration change, either President or within NASA or other various agencies, all work has to stop, including transportation of equipment, and that numerous times billion dollar tools are sitting in a semi trailer for 2 weeks on some interstate exit while the administration figure themselves out, and this causes a lot of unneeded maintenance and redone work. This includes Congress oversight changes, which he says are the worst, because when money is short they just require complete shut down and no grace period or warning before hand.
 
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