Presidential panel says NASA's manned-flight future is bleak

Unwilling to consider cutting taxes might be part of the solution?



Oh and I guess I should add a " "

In the absence of any evidence that it will produce the desired effect.

I might as well suggest that cutting out red meat is part of the solution.

I find your faith in NASA is disturbing. In the absence of any evidence that it will return man to the moon within decades you still believe our journey into space has to happen on NASA's timetable. More than that, you don't believe there is profit to be had in space exploration.

As for your red meat comment, were you referring to herring?

I indicated no faith in NASA. You have a horrible propensity for inventing things on your screen and pretending other people have said them.

It ideally would happen with private companies jumping in, however you have still not given a single reason how shutting down NASA would encourage private companies to jump into the business.

This isn't about whether or not the US government should be financing space exploration, it's about, it's about your apparent claim that the fact they do so is holding back private enterprise.

Have I ever told you I find your insightful feedback invaluable?


No?

By launching satellites and probes themselves instead of contracting out to do it they crowd out private enterprise.

More than that I doubt it can happen without the contribution of private companies.

Frame the discussion as you wish yet you're responding to an argument I have not made. Consider over-taxation and manifold failed government programs as the launching point for my opinion and then we'll have something to talk about.

Why are you so certain Dan?

History has shown quite the opposite.

Why are you so certain Dan?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/401227.stm

How is not paying them equivalent to crowding them out? Doing so still doesn't make private spaceflight commercially viable.

Only if you'll imagine the possibility that somehow, there might be some way to turn a meager profit in space travel.

Bottom line, there is no reason to consider space exploration as a solely altruistic endeavor.

How?

Do you not understand how crowding out works?


If the government is doing something, it is taking away business from those who would otherwise get paid to do the same thing.

In this case however, the government is the one creating the business in the first place.

So? I never said NASA should cease to exist, just that it should be Space DARPA.

So, you're not talking about crowding out, you're talking about refusing to artificially create a market for something that doesn't exist on its own.

No I am talking about crowding out. NASA should stop doing launch and repair services for other government agencies and private business. If NASA has something it wants to do, it should contract a private company to do it.

Private companies and wealthy individuals do not "explore".

And that is what is ending. The MANNED EXPLORATION OF SPACE.
Sure, Burt Rutan flying tourists briefly into LEO at 1 million dollars a trip.

Or the Russians having some plans to fly tourists around the moon (no landing) with modified Soyuz capsules for 120 MILLION dollars each..

Technially, you still have manned spaceflight.

But it isn't EXPLORATION.

I personally do not give a rats ass about tourism.

I support exploration.

So, the entire New World, the Light Bulb, Aeronatucal Engineering and Nuclear Energy were all colossal wastes of time, eh?

Some gains are not apparent until years later.

I don't know how you can measure it, but it has been said that hundreds of thousands of American students were inspired to go into science and engineering thanks to Apollo 11 and early space program.

What are the economic benefits of 100,000 scientists and engineers you would not have otherwise.

If they can find 400-500 billion for the US military without difficulty how come they can't dig up more than a measly 18 for NASA?

Cutting back on space exploration and the related sciences seems to be the one thing both Democrats and Republicans agree on.

All of the men who walked on the moon before will probably be dead by the time it happens again.

We should really be dealing with the larger problems first.

That means DoD, HHS, and others should be on the chopping block NOW. Worry about NASA when there's nothing larger left to cut.