Alrighty, you guys have some interesting ideas, and I'm glad to see people are still interested in space exploration, as if you weren't I'd worry about my job outlook...
Well, for all of you who want to progress in space exploration (that includes me), too bad. Obama and Congress cut off almost all funding to NASA and a huge portion of NASA's employees will be laid off.
I guess there are still the cosmonauts, maybe...
I've been heavily involved with the Rocket launching business, and I've also had a chance to talk with some NASA administrators as well. Your right, quite a few employees will be laid off now that the shuttle program ended, the exact same thing happened at the end of the Apollo program. However this is a bit different because they new they were going to do the shuttles before they ended Apollo.
However, Obama hasn't slashed NASA's funding he cancelled the constellation program, and demanded they start on a new program.
Speaking of NASA budget, most people are under the impression that NASA takes a HUGE portion of the federal budget.
It's quite the opposite, in NASA's entire 53 year history, they have spent $471.23 billion dollars. Sounds like alot, but lets put this in perspective.
The bank bailout in 2008 so far have spent $297 billion dollars.
The War in Iraq has cost $786 billion dollars
The War in Afghanistan has cost $432 Billion dollars
The economic Recovery act of 2009 has spent $787 billion dollars
NASA's budget averages around $9 billion a year.
The Federal Budget last year was $3.8 Trillion dollars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_BudgetImagine what would happen if instead of spending that $1.0 Trillion on the economic recovery act, and the bank bailout. We spent it all on NASA. I bet you we would be on scedual for going to Jupiter!
Actually, they're giving private companies the green-light to go do space exploration themselves because private companies are much for efficient than government institutions.
Don't worry, people, there is no end to space exploration. There's just an end to government-funded space exploration. Good riddance, too, NASA's been basically scratching their balls and sending the occasional rover or space telescope for the past 42 years.
NASA is Contracting Orbital Sciences, and SpaceX to provide resupply missions for the ISS. SpaceX is testing their Dragon capsule as a way of ferrying people to the ISS. Neither is working towards space exploration, just filling niches that form in the Launch Service community.
Your quite right though, Private companies are seriously more efficient than a Government agency.
But there is a down side to privatization. The fact they have to pull a return.
This reduces the scope of what they are willing to attempt, as if it doesn't project a significant economic return, they flat out aren't willing to attempt it.
I've heard several people say things like "If all space exploration was privatized we would be on Jupiter by now!"
This simply isn't the case. There just isn't a large enough foreseeable economic benefit to space exploration.
Think of Columbus, no merchant in his right mind would even *touch* his idea. He had to go to the Queen of Spain (Spain's Government) to get funding as no private company would back him.
However as soon as he did find America and displayed the large economic benefit from it. Commercial companies were all over it.
Government space agencies have a purpose in this world. They do things that aren't profitable, like firefighting, or policing. Same thing with space exploration, there certainly is an economic benefit to space exploration, however someone has to find it first for people to be interested in doing it.
So NASA does things like, trail-blaze the way to other planets, do pure science investigations, develop new technologies. Basically lay the framework for other entities to follow in its foot steps.
Look at low earth orbit for example. It started out with just NASA and the Soviets launching satellites, they did all the base research, all the base technology development. Then private companies took their lessons learned, and turned it into a multi-billion dollar industry.
K my fingers hurt, I'll put more ideas in later.
