Current Event Posting #1
Topic: Science
Title: Planetary Exploration hit in Nasa's budget
Author: John Zarrella
Publication: CNN
Date of Publication: Feb 13, 2012 at 4:49 pm
Length of Article: 496 words
Nasa wants to use it's 18$ billion budget to continue the development of a new heavy lift rocket and the Orion capsule for human deep space missions, fully implement the International Space Station as a science laboratory, and fund the continued work on the James Webb Telescope. Even though it seems that these developments are well funded, the work on James Webb Telescope is already about $6 billion dollars over budget and years delayed. Also Nasa's Planetary Exploration would fall by $300 million due to budget cuts while the mars exploration is getting a 226$ million cut. The science community believe this is a bad idea because of the fact that Nasa would be giving up the biggest tradition of great mission exploring. According to the budget it will be another four years before commercial companies will be ready to start flying astronauts to the Space Station. With this kind of spending Nasa will be on a very tight budget in order to accomplish these things.
Finally, Nasa just wants to be able to fund their top three projects in order to show the world they are still the top in the world. But because of the budget cuts, it creates a hard decision for the officials to make.
Very sad. It is quite amazing that not so long ago the American public was absolutely thrilled to explore space when you take stock in public attitude towards it today. In today's society, it seems no one is interested in space anymore. Perhaps it is a sign that in tough economic times, Americans do not dream of one day putting people on distant planets, but keeping financially secure.
ReplyDeleteThough it is disheartening to see such a once ambitious program lose so much, it must happen as the US is really strapped for cash and currently spends lots of money for comparatively little science.
The economic recession which the United States is currently living through is a vicious cycle. With budgets needing to be slashed, the government looks to projects and organizations which they consider to be non crucial. And who NEEDS to put humans into space, right? Wrong. We're busy pumping money into manufacturing and other "reliable and secure" jobs, but these are the jobs we will be losing first to further outsourcing. As other country's competitive economies catch up with ours, cheap overseas labor will make our manufacturing jobs obsolete. At this point, what will set us apart, or rather, what would have set us apart, is our seemingly frivolous projects like NASA which do incredible, original work; they push the limit on what we believe to be possible. Not only is NASA an important economic trophy, but will certainly be a scientific necessity as the numerous woes of humanity meet us at the front door and we don't have any answers because we were busy making housing more affordable.
ReplyDeleteAs the most famous and advanced space program in the world, NASA should be a valuable asset to the economy. Its extremely important that the US keeps on funding all of NASA's programs. If we can start a new age so to speak, we can pump more jobs into the economy and help our suffering economy. The point of all of this is that the funding the Government should give to NASA is not about the present, but about the future. At this point, companies that are overseas are actually beginning to be just as good, or better than ours. This takes away many jobs that would normally be at the US where the cutting edge is the norm.
ReplyDeleteFor those who are struggling to put money on the table for their families, throwing money at space research seems ludicrous and financially irresponsible of their government. But these people forget that many influential inventions such as wireless communication and water filters were the result of NASA's research. To cut their budget and inhibit them from following their three top projects is foolhardy and limits scientific progress, progress that America so desperately needs.
ReplyDeleteIts seems that the $300 million budget cut to NASA's future programs are due to a number of underlying reasons. While NASA has been leading proliferate explorations in the last 50 years, the circumstances of today's society disallow NASA to continue their past endeavors. The American public today does not view space exploration in the same light as they did in the Cold War era. Furthermore, with the world in economic crisis, many cannot help but to view the huge spendings on the James Webb Telescope and Mars exlorations as trivial. Financial security and social welfare are prioritized by many today, so seeing a huge budget cut in NASA's missions may not be as big of a surprise for the general public. However, it is sad that America seems to be stepping down as the leaders of space exploration and explorers of the latest astronomical sciences. I am sure, though, that Commercial companies are ready to take over the realm of space endeavors because many of these companies are well funded.
ReplyDeleteBudget is always a problem to everywhere. Although 18 billion dollars is already a large amount of money, it's still hardly enough to support science according to their spending on equipments and other issues. However, I think it's more important to finish the projects because the benefits for human can be huge. It's sad that America seem hardly support such a important program of exploration. I think NASA should try to save money on some unnecessary things by now or they could ask for supports from others and focus on the projects like James Webb Telescope and Mars explorations. Anyway, I don't support NASA to give up these projects. They should think more about benefits.
ReplyDeletePoor NASA: after 54 years of space exploration, it seems like the final frontier has been pushed even farther away with the new cuts in funding to multiple space programs such as planetary exploration, which has suffered a staggering $226 million in cuts. On top of that, the two future joint Mars missions with the European Space Agency (ESA) set for 2016 and 2018 have been scrapped. This development shocked and depressed the science community; the question rises, will the US ever visit space again?
ReplyDeleteDespite this saddening news, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden assures the public that the budget "preserves the agency's three primary goals: to continue the development of a new heavy lift rocket and the Orion capsule for human deep space missions, fully implement the International Space Station as a science laboratory, and fund the continued work on the James Webb Telescope."
Bolden also stated that the cuts would help keep America as the leader in space exploration... With no funding to build the next rocket? Right. Good luck getting into space on a "shoestring budget."