Comments on: NASA U-Turn Over Mars Rover Funding

By: Liz

Liz — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:05:26 +0000

this is gangster.

By: katie

katie — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:25:25 +0000

I think it is wrong that nasa got a money cut of that extent of 4 million dollars tha is very much needed if we want to do more research toward the posibility of human life we are going to need the money to build more robots like spirit and oppertunity, for further research.

By: Emission Nebula

Emission Nebula — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:11:50 +0000

I guess I should say something here now that Im the "right wing" bad guy.

Wars in Iraq, rich billionares with the last name Trump. Lets face it, America is a greedy bastard. I dont like any more than anyone else. And being a poor American that I am, and being highly intrigued about space, and space exploration more than anyone I know, I just have a tiny opinion.

War in Iraq= bad and shouldve ended long ago. But before we cut funding our troops that help them, we should bring them home first eh?

And while everyones talkiing about how 4 million dollars is nothing to NASA, I suppose if your an accountant that works for NASA, I would listen to you. In truth none of us know what NASA has up its sleeve for the future, and maybe cutting funding would help into that. OF COURSE I COULD BE 100% WRONG. Maybe someone wanted to cut that funding so they could buy a huge house, and an expensive car. How am I to know? How are any of you to know? I would like to know either way what the deal is.

I didnt intend to start a debate when I originally posted what I said before. It was just a thought.

Anyway, this topic is old now. The Rovers live on, and this should make everyone happy right? I know it does me.

By: Bob Hoover

Bob Hoover — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:07:33 +0000

The "Right Thing To Do" is not to blame NASA but to get to the root of the problem which is ….GREED and Politics and really stupid Group Dynamics .
We are spending 12 billion dollars a month in Iraq !
The Presidents that are elected , just like Kings , do not have to be really Intelligent just crafty , and are given the power to to run amok destroying what has been passed on to them, including the good and evil.
Look at the history of the Space Program and in particular what happened under President Nixon and the limbo of LEO he created for NASA thirty years ..
Get to the Bedrock of the problem …
NASA is subject to the whims of politicians and is helpless against budget cuts so their money must come as a generous mandatory donation from all of the wealthy big lobbies especially the Health ,Oil and Automotive , Pharmaceutical and Industrial Military Complex Industries etc as a direct tax on their EXCESS profitsand waste.
It could be a function of the benefits received by that Industry in the form of Spinoffs from the Space Program statistically calculated from past data and future predicted amounts .
The remainder would come from personal Income Taxes and Xprize financing and private non mandatory donations..
Likewise Health Care for everyone including fthe Elderly programs like Social Security and Medicare should be paid partly by excess Health and Pharmaceutical Industry
profits .
So to solve the NASA funding problem and "The Right Thing To Do" would be to create an equation based on non mandatory donations and Excess profits tax "donations" from huge lobbies (the oil and pharmaceutical especially ) and personal incomes taxes and Xprize funding which would solve the problem.
Kind of look at it also as "The Patriotic Thing To Do" and "We must all pull together" .. including the wealthy , just like in World War II for our survival as a first rate power.
We can't be sure the ESA or China or Russia or Japan or India will do it so we must set an example and take the lead..
This may sound similar to the negative philosophy that the current administration has adopted with respect to "Policing the World" because a certain group within has decided to do it , with or without a mandate of the people..
However , this Space Funding Solution is different because it is a "Positive and Peaceful Thing to do " and should not include the Militarization of Space .
In the long run , it could help our species survive which could be a good thing…

By: boonestone

boonestone — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 19:59:22 +0000

Emission Nebula: This, whatever it is, in Iraq is costing the U.S. 12,000,000.00 an hour, every hour. It's absolutely disgusting the government won't find a way to let NASA have the necessary funding it needs for it's operation.

By: Kevin Koski

Kevin Koski — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 19:19:22 +0000

Glad they changed their minds ,so whats on the hit list now,we need all these missions to continue,hopefully from now on the will more public support for space and its exploration.

By: Troy

Troy — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:58:53 +0000

Hmm makes you wonder if this decision lead to Sterns sudden departure from NASA?

By: Spacemad

Spacemad — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:06:03 +0000

How glad I am that the cuts proposed won't materialise in the end!

The Mars Rovers are doing a fantastic job on Mars. Maybe the technology & electronics , etc, will be used in future Mars projects! After all they must have done something extremely well to cause the Rovers to last so long under such terrible conditions on Mars.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:30:20 +0000

I glad this mission hasn't ended because of a bureaucratic SNAFU, but the mission's going to end sometime, maybe sometime soon.

You have to wonder how it feels for all those people at JPL on the MER team. Now that the rovers are more than 10x past their expected life, they could fail at any moment. One little wire snaps off one antenna, and Spirit is lost. It must be very hard to stay enthusiastic when your job could end, permanently, at any moment (well, minus the 42 minutes it takes right now to send a message to Mars and -not- get a reply.)

Maybe this accidental budget cut will make the JPL staffers stop and take a look around back here on Earth…

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:01:14 +0000

*Whew!*

By: John in Missouri

John in Missouri — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:48:33 +0000

What galls me is that it was only four million. From a former Fed, I can say this without blinking an eye. They waste more than that in a day. I'm glad someone woke up and stopped the madness.

By: marcellus

marcellus — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:18:28 +0000

I liked "the Mafia Hit" email. But that wouldn't happen until Spriit makes it to the top of "The Face on Mars" at Cydonia. NASA will make the reception a little fuzzy, so you can just barely make out a glimpse of SOMETHING THERE and then POW!!! — end of signal.

By: PHWilson

PHWilson — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:42:08 +0000

Maybe its no accident that they refer to this particular field as Political "Science". How important is PR now?

To Archer – Power To The People!!

When stated by Emission Nebula – "Well the whole point is NASA just keeps eating the governments money …", I spewed coffee. April 15th is just too close.

I'm proud to be here on the lowest rung. Try climbing a ladder without a first "step".

By: Shane

Shane — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:01:16 +0000

Please no disassemble! Number 5 is ALIVE!!!

Sorry folk I could not resist!

By: Chris Coles

Chris Coles — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:30:58 +0000

Am I the only individual on the planet that wonders why it is only the government that funds such things. What happened to all our savings in the savings industry?

By: Astrofiend

Astrofiend — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:08:37 +0000

INFINITY:

Is your caps lock key stuck, or are you just yelling through type?

" Vagueofgodalming Says:
March 26th, 2008 at 8:22 am

This strikes me as a fairly standard manoeuvre in budget politics. When cuts threaten, claim that they will affect your most high profile and popular item. Use the resulting stink to ensure any cuts fall elsewhere."

Very true. You can almost hear it now – "Ok, we'll fund the Rover program due to popular support. But we'll have to cut _ (insert five fundamentally important but not publically well-known programs here) _ . Don't blame us, this is what YOU wanted."

I guess it has to be understood that NASA has, and will always have, a limited budget whether we like it or not. And they do do a fairly good job of working with the cards they are dealt for the most part. But just for once it would be good to have a few years where we're not hearing about budget cuts. Would it be too much to ask for some budget increases occasionally?! Of course its all very well sitting over here in Australia telling you how to spend your tax dollars – maybe Amercia needs to form an international consortium of 'NASA partners' to help fund some of the actual ongoing mission costs, as opposed to simply providing instrumentation and componentry as is the case now.

In the end though, we have to make this work somehow. Surely space exploration and fundamental science ranks among the most worthwhile of human endeavours. Otherwise what are people doing with themselves during their lives? Just running around aimlessly bumping into each other, basically.

By: homesick alien

homesick alien — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:53:29 +0000

Archer, i applaude you for that post.

my idea-
terraform Mars. let me and 20 other people set up a base colony, send a couple of rockets that have all our building/ building supplies, a few rovers. we could do a little digging to help protect against random things the universe throws at us. it will be cheaper to let us do all the driving of those rovers, too. give us a green house. send more people as deemed fitting. in about 200 years, we should be able to plant some type of grasses in the landscape.
how about it NASA?

By: INFINITY

INFINITY — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:10:46 +0000

THE ROVERS ARE THE MOST ECONOMICAL FORM OF RESEARCH SCIENCE WE HAVE BEFORE WE LAND ON MARS. IT IS OF GREAT VALUE TO HAVE THE ROVER SCOUT FOR US AS LONG AS POSSIBLE TO HELP MAKE THE HUMAN MARS LANDING SAFER. INVEST IN YOUR FURTURE GENERATIONS. STOP FIGHTING OVER SCRAPS ON THIS PLANET WHEN THERE IS A HUGE BOUNTY IN OUTER SPACE!!!!!!

By: brent

brent — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:53:31 +0000

I agree with what a few before have said, this was more than likely a tactic to create awareness of how unpopular the move would be and mobilize measurable public support needed to justify not cutting funding.

By: Wizardd

Wizardd — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:15:49 +0000

To clarify,

One trillion is one million million.

By: Wizardd

Wizardd — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:12:11 +0000

So, you guys spend a trillion to have your useless wars around the globe, but can't find a 4 million dollars for a mars program?

It's so funny.

You guys have that Trump guy there, he probably could run NASA better by himself with his own funding…

By: Nanowit

Nanowit — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:43:06 +0000

How much simpler it would be to cut the 4 million from the war effort. That would be less than a drop in the bucket.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:30:02 +0000

N A S A Never A Straight Answer….

By: KC

KC — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:25:28 +0000

Have one of the rovers outline a big Pepsi logo on the surface of Mars and you'd have funding for the next decade!

By: Archer

Archer — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:25:14 +0000

Dear Congress,

Fund NASA, or fund your retirement after we vote you and your 19% approval rating out of office.

Sincerely,

The People.