The Obama NASA Redirection
The Obama space plan seems to be angering many people, that is not the point however. The point is that I think that I am one of the few that believe that President Obama did not go far enough in changing the direction of the NASA space program agenda. When we are criticized for preparing to halt shuttle flights, that is just too much for me. The shuttle has consistently been one of the most expensive and dangerous space vehicles. It was designed to be reusable so that it would save money on launches and yet it costs far more to launch an object with the shuttle than with a rocket. On top of that the US Air Force has now just about perfected a smaller version of the shuttle that no one is mentioning. Yes is is far smaller and will only hold a couple of astronauts and a small amount of cargo, but the point is that it will be able to reach the same places as the shuttle would and will be sufficient for some missions and can be flown by wire.
No, Its Not The Apollo, But The Orion What I am disappointed in, is not canceling the return to the moon on the Orion, but the continuation of the International Space Station which is a total waste of money and really serves no purpose other than political. The Orion capsule had been criticized by many as being a step back in technology. I guess part of this was because it looked so much like the Apollo capsule. Sure the computers on board were more modern and it could hold more people, but it basic functions were almost the same. The President has said that he wants to see a more advanced approach to our space program. He wants new ships to be designed that will be more advanced and to this end I support him. I think that we need a modern fleet of spaceships and especially ones that are no longer hampered by rocket power. Let's at least get ion engines into all of our probes and ships and look for even faster ways to travel. When the president called upon private companies to take up the duties of operating private space shuttles, many people were furious. These people seem to forget that early flight was carried on by private individuals not the government. You can't keep a government monopoly on space flight and getting into orbit will not be such a big deal anymore. Soon private companies will do it with regularity. To those that are crying that it will cost too much money, I say to them that they haven't been following events very closely. Many smaller companies have developed ships that will eventually get into orbit and they did it for several millions of dollars not tens of billions like NASA. Sure these private companies built upon the advances that NASA had made, but so what? One company that I know of is only spending about 4 million dollars to convert a business jet into a vehicle that will be able to get into orbit.
This Is Not The Shuttle, It Is The New Air Force Space Plane Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that we should not return to the moon, but I still feel that unknown to the average person, military flights have been going there and even the space shuttle was capable of that but it was kept secret. I am almost willing to bet that the new Air Force shuttle is also capable of that. I am sure the President is aware of that and just can't come out and say it. Anyway if the private companies get into space on a regular basis, will it be long before they build new vehicles and extend the range of the existing ones? We all know how competition works and these companies will be competing with each other and better and better ships will be needed. It probably won't be long before they figure out how to mine on the moon and send the ore back or build processing plants on good ole Luna. Our goal has to be on distant travel in space. Right now Mars and beyond is considered distant travel. Many believe that the radiation would eventually kill anyone on one of these ships, but as I am writing this article, plasma shields are being worked on. These shield will be able to not only keep out deadly radiation, but won't add much weight to the vehicle. As we improve our vehicles, Mars will no longer be considered distant and I bet a lot of private companies will be chafing at the bit to get there. Who knows, we might even try and terraform that place to make it suitable for human habitation. That certainly would help with the overcrowding on the earth, wouldn't it?
Apollo Astronauts On Moon There are so many important places that we have to get to and explore and we can't do that if we are spending NASA's entire budget on the space shuttles and International Space Station, or by buying equipment that is not much of an advance over the older equipment. That is why I agree with President Obama on this issue. I want to see the most cutting edge ships out there and I want to see them constantly upgraded with the newest equipment such as engines, shields and such. I want to see the United States space program second to none again. I realize that we are facing hard fiscal times right now, but denying funds to some of NASA's programs will just hurt us in the long run. For one thing there are plenty of riches out there that would make the space program worthwhile. One thing that the space program has done is supply new technology to us. NASA's entire budget is less than 8/10ths of one percent of our entire budget. Some of the advancements that we enjoy now came from the space program. The auto industry is using a structural analysis technique that came from the space program. There are tons of computer applications, but let's get to the ones that touch our lives more deeply. Enriched baby food, water purification, scratch resistant lenses, pool purification, golf ball aerodynamics, portable cooler and warmers, athletic shoes, solar energy, forest management, fire resistant materials, digital imaging breast biopsy, laser angioplasty, programmable pacemakers, ocular screening, voice controlled wheelchairs, radiation hazard detectors, personal alarm systems, emergency rescue cutters, fireman's air tanks, better brakes for cars, advanced lubricants and thousands of other inventions and improvements. We need to get our space program on the right track and not back to things that we have already done at the expense of those things that we could do. I believe that the suggestions made by the president are reasonable as does Buzz Aldrin. Now if we could just get the president to kill the money for the International Space Station...... |
