How can the space program avoid being pushed to the side by the federal gov?
Politicians promise to support Ares, but with the American economy in its current state, Congress is likely to drastically cut funding. How can the space program survive when the United States faces so many more pressing issues? In what ways could space exploration be profitable for investors over the near term? Could nuclear pulse propulsion be a feasible means of cutting costs and expanding possibilities?
Economically, NASA and space exploration in general has had a great boost on the economy. All of the spin-off products that reached the market have produced a great flow of wealth, and, in the economics of capitalism, spending and buying = more economic prosperity, while saving = less economic prosperity. Seems somewhat contradictory… planning for making your own personal financial future stable hurts the societies short term financial stability, and vice verse.
All that being said, it’s not likely that all the lawmakers in the U.S. understand economics, let alone vote on projects that work, rather— they vote on bills to try to get themselves reelected, so if the public opinion is that NASA is a waste of money, many in the house and senate will vote to cut the funding.
Personally, (and there are a LOT of details that would need to be worked for this to be legitimate) I would like to see getting space exploration out of the governments hands, and into the hands of intelligent entrepreneurs. Direct competition between two (or more) opposing "space companies" with publicly held stocks, would (my speculation) possibly speed up understanding of the universe. I.E. if you’re trying to build the fastest, safest spaceship in the history of mankind, you might be more inclined to get it right, and get it right fast, if your competitor is closing in on launching one first.
The downside to this, is, I don’t suspect very many business people would wish to invest in building such a company. The returns will take a long time, and if you don’t hire the right people, you won’t get any. So unless the millionaire really wants to do good for space exploration, and doesn’t care about the risk/reward aspect of this potential "commercial space company" dealy-bop, <— that is a technical term, by the way! — I’m not sure how feasible this is in the short term.
I haven’t heard what McCain has said about NASA, I believe he said he supports it. However that was before the financial crisis. Obama first said he planned on cutting NASA funding, delaying the Constellation program by 5 years, so as to better fund schools, but he changed that stance in August. Again, that was also before the crash.
Who knows what will happen know, the Chinese might just win the Space Race 2.0 while America suffers under the Great Depression 2.0
The private space market will most likely also fail under financial stress.
Nuclear pulse production? That technology has only existed in the wildest dreams of space exploration advocates let alone in the wake of one of the greatest financial crisis in modern day history. Nuclear pulse production has never been considered a cheap option, but NASA in light of almost inevitable budget cuts will most likely rise to the occasion and come up with more and more innovative ways to make more with less.
doubt it will happen, but NASA might find a way to tie energy production to its budget.
who better to work on fusion power than a rocket scientist?
In general, new exotic systems of dubious practical value (but nevertheless great eventual promise) are not the way to cut costs. You cut costs by sticking with what you know and do well, and making incremental improvements and refinements.
I think one link can sum IT ALL up for us.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1949129/Giant-space-vegetables-andlsquocould-feed-the-worldandrsquo.html
not to mention the others……oh wait,
forget NASA…. and funding their flights
let privatized companies manage and build ships while NASA just researches
good for us, good for the economy, and good for NASA/science/humankind/us/you/me
http://www.spaceadventures.com/index.cfm
http://www.virgingalactic.com/
http://www.galacticsuite.com/
http://www.scaled.com/
international treaties keep nuclear propulsion from continuing
Good question.
here’s the situation–and it’s not good.
First, there has been virtually no support for Ares or any other NASA manned spaceflight since the 1980s. we had two projects (Delta Clipper and VentureStar) in the 1990s to build advanced spacecraft but Congress canceled them. Ares is NOT an advanced spacecraft–it is composed of technology borrowed from th eShuttle program. Even so, funding hs been cut again and again. The target date for the first launch has now been moved back to 2014. If then. There is no substantial funding for a return to the moon.
You are correct–as long as politicians see other problems as more presing, NASA will get screwed. And that is not going to change in less than 3-5 years.
But it is going to change–drastically . For three reasons:
>First, when it dawns on our leadership in Washington that the US is rapidly falling behind the rest of the world. We still have a technical edge. But there are now more than a dozen countries that can and do launch satellites and a half dozen that have manned space programs either actually launching or in the works. When something similar to the Sputnik launch (1957) happens, they will wake up
2) Thre has been a drastic leap forward in space technology. We are on the verge of seeing real commercial launches o fsatellites and eventually people. Don’t dismiss the profit motive. If you want to get something to happen–show there ‘s a way to make money doing it and it will happen! That pattern is beginning to unfold.
3) The BIGGIE. Orbital manufacturing and industry. This is what is driving other nations and wil be the economic base for real large scale space travel within a few decades. We know some of the possibilities–and hey are mind-boggling. Here’s one example: a substance called aerogel. it is about 3 times as dense (heavy) as air. It is three times as strong as steel. And it is one of the best insulators ever discovered. You cannot make large quantities on Earth. But it is easy to make in zero gravity.
That’s only one item–thre are hundreds we know of and certainly many times that number we’ve not even guessed at. When we have teh advanced spacecraft to reliably travel to and from Earth orbit, we will see this become a central part o four economy and industry, making ourlives on Earth better and more prosperous. That will be the real fuel for space travel.
BUT–WHEN we have those advanced spacecraft. And right now, NASA isn’t working on them because they have no funding to do so. We pretty much have to wait until China, India, Russia, or Japan (or any of sevral other nations) embarrasses into action. That may not be for years. Either that or the privae space sector can reach the point of being really viable. Right now it’s making great strides–but it’s esentially a research and development sector that doesn’t have marketable systems yet.