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curiousuburb
Antimatter Man
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: that interweb thing
 
2009-09-09, 10:24

Augustine's Full report will have more detail than the summary highlights skew for, but there were always a few foregone conclusions:
  • 1 in 5 Americans believes the Sun goes around the Earth.
    /facepalm

  • NASA budget equates roughly to the amount the US spends on Peanuts each year.
    (The nuts, not the comic strip).

  • NASA is underfunded for what it is asked to do. (And it's only the third best funded US Space Agency.)
    Have you seen how big Space is? Oh wait...

  • NASA's return-on-investment is beyond dollars, but only budgeted in dollars.
    What is a Giant Leap worth, or a Hubble Deep Field in terms of awe and inspiration as much as raw research & development?

  • Bush's 'Vision' of Constellation, retirement of Shuttle before Constellation comes online, deorbit of ISS 5 yrs later... none funded and all doomed policies set for rewrite
    Ares I seems archaic.* Shuttle gotta fly until its replacement is ready, ISS is permanent because partners won't consent to dumping it, duh.

  • A list of suggested options for new directions, almost all of which will cost more than is budgeted for NASA now.
    But more incentive for private/commercial Space business is good.

*

Best to delay the final approval until the next good SciFi flick to build public support.

All those who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand.
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