Established Member
In general this does seem to be in line with what I expected from Mr Trump - space as PR/political tool to show that he's making America ´great' again, rather than focus science, exploration. Correct me if I'm proveably wrong, but that´s what it seems his interest is to me. If I may offer my personal opinion, which I will add no further political commentary on... it seems to be the product of a very immature and ill informed view, and is something of a waste.
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You had already crossed the line before writing this. Please stay within bounds.Originally Posted by marsbug
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Man is a tool-using animal. Nowhere do you find him without tools; without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all. — Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)
Order of Kilopi
NYT had this today. Sorry if this is repeating:
"The administration [budget] proposal spares some programs (after discussing huge cuts to NIH and others). It would continue development of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s current generation of weather satellites, for example. NASA’s budget would be cut only slightly, by less than 1 percent, but the White House is proposing a shift in where the money would be spent — eliminating four earth science missions and the $115 million the agency is spending on education."
This does not sound good for CosmoQuest itself, whose "Origins" story includes the following funding connection....
"Massive cuts to NASA EPO funding and to planetary science have lead to budget cuts at CosmoQuest."Thankfully, the president's budget is not something that is simply adopted. AFAIK, it is subjected to some serious haggling, lobbying, and horse-trading, and typically ends up a significantly different budget than originally proposed. We can only hope that the funding for NASA's education programs is retained. And perhaps we can also lobby to that end. I doubt it would take much more than signing up the president on one of our citizen science projects.
It's certainly tricky to skirt "the political" here, but it sounds like the administration's budget could have some serious consequences for CosmoQuest, doesn't it? Seems like we ought to be able to talk about that here.
Last edited by Cougar; 2017-Mar-18 at 11:25 PM.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
Order of Kilopi
Editorial in the Orlando Sentinel is disappointed with the budget. Expectations were much higher.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/opini...315-story.html
" When President Trump unveiled the outline of his first federal budget proposal this past week, many analysts described it as a mixed bag for America’s space program. We’d call it a missed opportunity.
There’s bad news and good news for space. While Trump proposed cutting $200 million, or about 1 percent, from NASA’s $19.3 billion budget this year, the space agency would fare much better than other non-defense agencies; the EPA, for example, is the target of a proposed 31 percent cut. The president called for canceling NASA’s mission to send astronauts to an asteroid, but preserving funding to develop the agency’s next rocket and crew vehicle. He advocated a deep cut in NASA’s Earth science programs, but maintained support for a robotic mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa."
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Order of Kilopi
Order of Kilopi
SLS isn't going anywhere. Musk isn't happy--but I think it might be cheaper for him to develop payloads for SLS rather than ITS designs--if better composite tanks don't come along.
Order of Kilopi
NASA has completed the study of adding crew to EM-1 but it will not be released to the public.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/new...iting-response
NASA Acting Chief Scientist Gale Allen said today that the agency's feasibility study of adding a crew to the first launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion has been completed and briefed to agency and White House officials.* The report is not public, she added, and the agency is now waiting for a "go forward" plan.** She also said that NASA is expecting a flat budget for the next 5 years, not even including adjustments for inflation, which will reduce its buying power by $3.4 billion over that time period.
Established Member
Trump Wants To Get Humans To Mars ASAP
http://www.newsy.com/stories/trump-w...is-presidency/
President Trump called the ISS to congratulate Peggy Whitson on her record time in space, but the subject quickly turned to Mars.
Order of Kilopi
Should he not concentrate on getting American astronauts to LEO first before looking for other destinations.
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I am because we are
(African saying)
Established Member
Funny way to put it. By my count, American presence in space overshadows others'. The lack of actual craft will turn out to be a blip as they will likely have a relative plethora of options of how to get a ride there. I think going to Mars is silly. But I also think the Americans are better positioned to get there than anybody else.
YMMV
Order of Kilopi
That America is better positioned than other countries to get to Mars, I do not dispute. It is the time frame to achieve it.
Boeing and SpaceX have to go through a strict certification process before they can send astronauts to LEO. I may be mistaken but I have not read of Orion going through a similar process.
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Order of Kilopi
Astrophysicist Jack Burns, a member of President Trump's NASA transition team, talks about their plans for NASA.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/spac...ars-sls-orion/
"If you feel like NASA's been in limbo lately, you're not alone.
"NASA has been kind of stuck for much of the last decade," says Jack Burns, who serves as a member of President Trump's NASA transition team. "After the shuttle stopped flying, people were even confused as to whether NASA existed any longer—I mean it was that bad."
On a recent visit to the University of Colorado at Boulder where Burns teaches and works, Popular Mechanics sat down with the astrophysics professor to learn a little about what we can expect from NASA in the coming years. Up first: flying people to space again. American astronauts haven't flown to orbit on an American launch vehicle since the last Space Shuttle flight in July 2011. Since then, NASA astronauts have been hitching rides on the Russian Soyuz rocket, and the U.S. has been paying for the privilege. The new NASA wants to change that."
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Order of Kilopi
A summary of the meeting between members of the privates space industry and US senators.
https://www.wmfe.org/private-aerospa...loration/72704
"With the president hoping to get to Mars by his second term, US Senators met with members of the private space industry to figure out how to get there. Senator Ted Cruz invited private space leaders to talk about the way the government works with commercial aerospace companies.
At the hearing, leaders from Bigelow Aerospace and Blue Origin asked for a better way to license rocket launches and operate space stations. Blue Origin President Rob Meyerson stressed that space exploration is a collaborative effort, and hopes to work with NASA to create a base on the moon."
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I am because we are
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Order of Kilopi
You folks do realize the purpose of the budget cuts, in general, are to lower the overall tax rate and expand the middle class, right?
A large, tax paying, middle class is what got the United States to the Moon in the first place.
Time wasted having fun is not time wasted - Lennon
(John, not the other one.)
Order of Kilopi
And thereby hangs a tale. I like Sam Brownback. He was nice to Robert Zubrin. But the fact is--he broke Kansas
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...kansas/517641/
NASA has been cut too much over the years..Now--I'm big on the idea of dual use. Ares V was to launch a very wide radio telescope dish. Some in the military wanted Space Based Radar--as opposed to the X-band ship the Navy has had problems with. Missile defense is looked at.
A savings to taxpayers--as non-politically as I can put this--would be to find dual use. We got some mirrors from NRO--and one will fly for science
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_N...nation_to_NASA
So what I want is to see is more dual use mil-space spending. This way space and DoD won't be at odds come acquisition--but hand in hand. I know--this all sounds like the "purple" armed services talk.
Moderator
Please don't go there. The words "... to the Moon" do not cover for an otherwise disallowed post.
And that one doesn't even have a hint of space, unless Kansas is on another planet.
That's it folks. No more warnings. Next post that is even slightly outside of our allowed exceptions to the no-politics rule gets an infraction.
Last edited by Swift; 2017-May-01 at 12:34 PM.
Established Member
some news, NASA opinion articles
NASA receives more than $19.6 billion in 2017 omnibus spending bill
The omnibus spending bill, released by congressional appropriators after extended negotiations, provides more money overall for the agency than earlier House and Senate bills, including significant increases for exploration programs and planetary science. It also funds programs that the Trump administration seeks to cancel or restructure in its 2018 budget proposal.
The $19.653 billion NASA receives in the bill is $628 million above the original request for the agency in the Obama administration’s final budget request in February 2016. It is $368 million above the $19.285 billion NASA received in fiscal year 2016.
The biggest winner in the spending bill is NASA’s exploration program, which gets $4.32 billion, nearly $1 billion more than the original request but similar to what the House and Senate offered in their bills last year. That total includes $2.15 billion for the Space Launch System and $1.35 billion for Orion.
The report accompanying the spending bill allows NASA to use exploration funding to support technologies such as advanced proposal, asteroid deflection and grappling systems intended for use on the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), provided they “not distract from the overarching goal of sending humans to Mars.” The Trump administration’s fiscal year 2018 budget blueprint, released March 16, announced plans to cancel ARM.
Science programs will receive $5.76 billion in the spending bill, above both the requested $5.6 billion and lower levels in the House and Senate bills. Planetary science wins a large increase, to nearly $1.85 billion, well above the 2017 request of $1.52 billion and the $1.63 billion it received in 2016. That total includes $408 million for the Mars 2020 rover mission, including language directing NASA to add a small helicopter technology demonstration to the mission as long as it does not delay the mission’s launch.
That planetary science funding also includes $275 million for Europa missions, both the Europa Clipper multiple flyby spacecraft and a proposed lander. Language in the bill requires NASA to launch Europa Clipper no later than 2022 and the lander no later than 2024, although NASA officials have recently said they don’t expect the lander mission to be ready for launch until at least 2025. The Trump administration’s 2018 budget blueprint supported Europa Clipper but included no funding for a Europa lander.
NASA’s Earth science program, the subject of potential cuts, received $1.92 billion, the same as it received in 2016 but less than the $2.03 billion sought by the Obama administration. That funding includes $90 million for Pre-Aerosol, Clouds, and Ocean Ecosystem, or PACE, mission, which the Trump administration targeted for cancellation in its 2018 budget blueprint.
NASA’s space technology program receives $686.5 million in the bill, the same as it received in 2016 but less than $826.7 million requested by the Obama administration. Of that, $130 million is set aside for the Restore-L satellite servicing project, which the Trump administration said in its 2018 budget blueprint that it seeks to restructure, calling it “duplicative.”
http://spacenews.com/nasa-receives-m...spending-bill/
Here Is the Trump Transition Team's Big Plan for NASA
Popular Mechanics met with astrophysicist Jack Burns, a member of President Trump's NASA transition team, to learn a little about what we can expect from the agency moving forward.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/spac...ars-sls-orion/
If you feel like NASA's been in limbo lately, you're not alone.
"NASA has been kind of stuck for much of the last decade," says Jack Burns, who serves as a member of President Trump's NASA transition team. "After the shuttle stopped flying, people were even confused as to whether NASA existed any longer—I mean it was that bad."
On a recent visit to the University of Colorado at Boulder where Burns teaches and works, Popular Mechanics sat down with the astrophysics professor to learn a little about what we can expect from NASA in the coming years.
Science wins reprieve in US budget deal
http://www.nature.com/news/science-w...t-deal-1.21835
Trump to NASA Astronauts: ‘Who’s Ready to Go to Mars?’
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whit...o-mars-n750136
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/casey...-in-years.htmlThe president spoke with Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Jack Fischer aboard the International Space Station as Whitson celebrated setting the record for the most time spent in space of any American.
....
Always concerned with being ahead of schedule, Trump riffed "We want to try and do it during my first term, or at worst during my second term, so we'll have to speed that up a little bit, OK?"
"We'll do our best," Whitson replied with a laugh.
NASA received $19.65 billion—its best budget since 2010—and the Planetary Science Division saw its budget increase to $1.846 billion—its best budget in more than ten years.
Needless to say, we are very pleased with this. It represents an increase of $215 million to planetary science above 2016, and is $345 million more than the President originally proposed for this year. When adjusting for inflation and programmatic consistency, this is the best budget for NASA's Planetary Science Division since 2005.
Order of Kilopi
We need more good news like this.
Order of Kilopi
The thread started with a wish by the president of the USA to put US astronauts on a trip around the moon on the 1st flight of SLS next year.
Now the study by NASA to look at the feasibility has recommended aginst the idea. In the mean time too the 1st flight of SLS has slipped by a year.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-of-new-rocket
"NASA won’t fly humans on its first launch of the Space Launch System, the largest rocket in the agency’s history. While technically possible, the effort would have required as much as $900 million in new funding and pushed the first flight’s schedule to as late as June 2020, NASA officials said Friday."
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I am because we are
(African saying)
Insert awesome title here
That's a relief. Space stunts to make the administration look good was the trap the Soviets fell into. The Americans not doing that was how they won the Space Race. Tortoise and hare and all that.
Order of Kilopi
Trump's 2018 NASA budget is out. It is slightly smaller than this year's budget.
The Planetary Society has a break down of it.
Unless there is a significant increase in 2019 onwards I do not see NASA attempting a moon landing in Trump's 1st term or even the 2nd term.
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason...t-request.html
"President Trump's full 2018 budget request was released this morning. Unlike the 62-page "skinny" budget preview released in March, this is the full proposal that will go to Congress. In the coming months, both the House and Senate will debate various aspects of the budget before voting on a final version, which will return to the president's desk for a final signature.
Expect a contentious battle over everything from education funding to a proposed southern border wall, with the possibility of a government shutdown on the table."
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I am because we are
(African saying)
Order of Kilopi
The in-fighting is what I dread. Louder calls to kill each other's programs.
Order of Kilopi
The Washington Times gives an optimistic outlook to President Trump's space policy.
http://m.washingtontimes.com/
"Bill Gates first noticed parallels between President John F. Kennedy and President-elect Donald Trump after speaking with the newly electd president: “But in the same way President Kennedy talked about the space mission and got the country behind that, there can be a very upbeat message that [Trump‘s] administration [is] going to organize things, get rid of regulatory barriers, and have American leadership through innovation.”
Indeed, there may be more to Mr. Gates’ JFK-space reference than just a metaphor."
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Last edited by selvaarchi; 2017-Jun-19 at 11:23 AM.
I am because we are
(African saying)
Order of Kilopi
Except the net effect of the cuts has not been that.
Moderator
I'll repeat what I said when Big Don posted that originally.
I really mean it. That's it; nothing further from anyone.
Order of Kilopi
It's so nice hearing about something optimistic. Thank you Selvaarchi.
The article is gone already I fear.
Time wasted having fun is not time wasted - Lennon
(John, not the other one.)
Order of Kilopi
Try searching Google with "Trump, the new JFK in space"
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I am because we are
(African saying)
Order of Kilopi
President Trump has signed the executive order to reactivate the National Space Council. Hopefully we will get some clarity on the US space direction now.
https://www.geekwire.com/2017/presid...space-council/
"After months of foreshadowing, President Donald Trump today signed an executive order to revive the National Space Council, a move that’s likely to open the way for space policy changes that have been largely put on hold during the White House transition.
The order was signed at a White House ceremony on the eve of a long Fourth of July weekend. Among those in attendance: members of Congress, Boeing’s Dennis Muilenburg and other aerospace executives, and astronauts including Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin."
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I am because we are
(African saying)
Order of Kilopi
President Trump's is slowly moving to get the this administration's space space policy jigsaw in place. The National Space Council has been reactivated and now we have a head for NASA.
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Tr..._NASA_999.html
US President Donald Trump announced Friday he plans to appoint James Bridenstine, a former navy pilot and Republican congressman, to head the US space agency NASA.
Bridenstine, 42, who backed Trump during the US presidential campaign, had long been considered the favorite for the job of NASA administrator.
Established Member
The founder of this blog is not happy with the choice for NASA administrator.
http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/trump-t...as-nasas-chiefBut where this really goes wrong is Bridenstine’s very loud and strident denial of climate science.
Since he’s a Republican from Oklahoma, this perhaps isn’t surprising, but the breadth and depth of his denial is cause for great concern. He was elected to Congress in late 2012, and immediately launched into climate science denial grandstanding.
Order of Kilopi
National Space Council has met and the moon is our 1st destination
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/s...2Fscience&_r=0
Standing before the space shuttle Discovery in a voluminous hangar outside of Washington, Vice President Mike Pence announced on Thursday a renewed focus on putting Americans in space and making a return to the moon.
“We will return American astronauts to the moon, not only to leave behind footprints and flags, but to build the foundation we need to send Americans to Mars and beyond,” Mr. Pence said during a meeting of the National Space Council.
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