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I remember when NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration was about doing cool stuff which fired the imagination.

Ya know, like figuring how to put satellites in orbit around the Earth. Sending men into space so to eventually land a man on the Moon. Sending probes to land on Mars, pass collect information from other planets and eventually leave the solar system altogether.

I would say such things are worthy projects, not only in their accomplishments but do inspire and instil pride.

That was the good old days. As of Feb.2 2020 they took on new missions, nothing to do with Space exploration,

"When I became the NASA administrator, (President Obama) charged me with three things," Bolden said in the interview which aired last week. "One, he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math; he wanted me to expand our international relationships; and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math and engineering."


Space.com

This is hilarious. I mean really, who knew the Muslim world was suffering a self-esteem problem? Even more crazy is the thought an intervention by NASA would really do much to alleviate this perceived malaise.

OK, that is a quick history on what comes next, ,

Nasa-funded study: industrial civilisation headed for 'irreversible collapse'?

A new study sponsored by Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center has highlighted the prospect that global industrial civilisation could collapse in coming decades due to unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution.


The Guardian

This guy who occupies the White House has no shame. Tugging at every string to justify a failed economic theory of income redistribution (income inequality), takes a icon of success, NASA down the tubes with him.

Nothing to do with the countries financial situation?

tude dog;1450586 wrote: I remember when NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration was about doing cool stuff which fired the imagination.


Come now, they're still at it. The Rosetta probe surely stirs the juices, doesn't it? Soft-landing on a comet?

The Rosetta Probe could turn out to be very interesting, indeed.

We don't have a space program because taxes to fund anything are rejected. Space is being privatized, like the Republicans want it. Even liberal people don't understand the importance of space; they wrongly think that if money is not being spent on NASA, it will be spent on them. Wrong.

Oh poo. I was slowly going to circle round the wagons and get to that bit eventually but you beat me to it.

Either the country spends a sufficient proportion of its tax revenue on primary research in a space program or it doesn't.

NASA has expertise. Maybe it can offer that expertise in exchange for participation in the Chinese space program, that could work and not require an increased slice of the US tax cake.

Sorry, I was in a hurry.

Is no bugger going to point out that the Rosetta Probe is a European mission?

Who wants to admit to being a bugger?

Týr;1450611 wrote: Is no bugger going to point out that the Rosetta Probe is a European mission?


Not me.......I have to Google half your content......and thats just the long words.

(I do know what circumlocution means now though so thanks)

Týr;1450611 wrote: Is no bugger going to point out that the Rosetta Probe is a European mission?


That's part of the beauty of it. It doesn't matter. The data will be shared with the scientific community.

In the old "glory" days of NASA, it was all about competition. "Oh, no! The commies put a satellite into orbit! How can we claim to be number 1 in everything if they can do it and we can't?" Funding was easy to get because it was competition with the commies. Now that childish competition has waned a bit, congress would rather spend the money on corporate welfare than science. Our ability to use intelligent machines for our exploration doesn't get the headlines, but gathers more data than the risky manned missions.

Space exploration is not dead, but funding has been cut the way it has been cut to all scientific research.

Rockets and satellites were not exactly an American invention anyway. The good news is it's not just the united states that is interested in space research. If they stop other nations will and are picking up and see the value of pure research for it's own sake. If people just valued research for what gains it was going to make the modern world would not exist and only funding those program mes which have an apparent monetary gain is a one way street to a technological dead end. Competition might wake up your ciongress as to what is at stake.

Laser technology must be the classic example, they weren't trying to invent anything contributing science came from all over the planet and they were just following a puzzle if you had to justify the money and time spent by what whether it would be profitable we would not have laser technology around today.