Obama Wants to Kill Space Exploration

It's official (check out this article for a good commentary) -- and sad. It doesn't stop me from supporting him for President (which I do), and i certainly agree that the current state of the space program isn't very inspiring, but putting space exploration completely on hold until "the mission is clearer" makes absolutely no sense -- he's basically arguing that we should stop working on the problem because we don't have a good solution yet. That makes no sense. Space and space exploration is one of the hottest topics in science today, and relegating it to the "not inspiring" category -- by someone who says he's all about inspiration -- seems completely myopic. If he wants inspiration and change in the status quo, he should see NASA and the whole space exploration effort as the perfect opportunity for re-invigoration, not cancellation.

And pitting it against pre-K education programs?? Of course it's going to lose -- another victim of a standard Washington budgeting ploy, by someone who says he wants to change the system. If he compared the budget of the space program with other long-term exploration science goals (things like particle colliders, deep sea exploration, etc.), and then justified his position based on a clear ranking of each of these goals and the overall budget plan for exploration science in general, I would at least respect his decision. Instead, by weaseling out he looks like he's trying to sweep it under the rug like any other politician. And that's just sad.

Virgin and Google having a little fun

Google and Virgin today announced product Virgle, a manned mission to Mars complete with an application, website, and video call to action.

Now, of course they are having a bit of fun, but what a great way to have a laugh. They've put together a full website that allows all of us who hope and dream to pretend, for just a bit, that perhaps we will get to Mars in our lifetime, and that perhaps, space exploration can become the purview of citizen scientists, instead of a few government employees.

Reading through their material certainly puts a smile on my face. Right now I am trying to think of what to put in my application video...

Oh that Dextre!

I am a fan of manned space flight, I always have been, and I always will be. I am a fan not because of the science we can discover by sending people into space, but mostly because of the inspiration manned space flight (so much more than robotic missions) can provide for young and old people alike.

However, some people like to play the "it's good science" game with manned space flight. Good for them for fighting the good fight. Most of the time it comes down to biological experimentation, and I completely agree that the most beneficial science that can come from manned space flight is studying the human body and natural systems in microgravity or weightlessness.

This focus on biological systems in space is one of the reasons I thought it was pretty funny that astronauts today installed Dextre, a Canadian-built robot onto the international space station. This robot can complete some of the mundane tasks that heretofore astronauts had to complete with space walks, at great expense and danger to themselves. It is ironic, since the justification of the space station is that people are needed to do good science, that the astronauts have just replaced some of their usefulness with a Canadian robot.

Don't get me wrong, I think it was a great move, to automate everything on the space station that can be automated, so that only the most interesting questions can be addressed by the human astronauts. However, why not naturally move towards no astronauts at all, and fill the station with some Japanese built robots? Hopefully because a station full of robots won't inspire people like Kirk and Spock do.