NASA - Space Program - Future

When will NASA and the space program begin to make some progress and get back to exploration? Back to the moon, Mars trip???

Will it take more money from Congress? A revamped or new space agency? A new space race with the Chinese?
Is our space program, NASA or Military, more advanced then publicly admitted?

The military program has been NASA for awhile.

Now that the military is moving in its own direction we will see a new NASA.

I expect a global operation with a lot of private corporations involved with doing work for the major governmental agencies. This will allow the agencies to do what they do best, envision projects and coordinate research while the private corporations will deliver on time cost effective solutions.

I can see in ten years time a far bigger effort by humankind in space than we have seen to date if there can be some restructuring of the major regional space agencies.

I would have thought now that more companies will try to make their mark in space, but I reckon governments will still show interest.

Government comes under great critism for spending huge amounts on NASA projects.

the strangest thing is that Nasa gets miljoens of dollars if i am wright some 11 biljoen? correct me if i am wrong. And if you see how far they are with spaceflight applications.

The competitors of the xprize competition have les then a miljoen to spend and they can do all lot better it so disapointing to see that people can't spend its money well.

those xprize competitors create more interresting low orbital space applications then nasa with its biljoens.

I think we will see more freelance explotiation of space now, this leaves more room for innovation, private finance is there as with Xprize. Nasa needs to look at its core values, and recognise this.
BigDan

lol, NASA! Almost as pointless as the UN or NORAD...

12,000 people, a multi-billion dollar budget three time larger than the counter-terrorism budget (exempting the Iraqi War) and they still haven't done crap.

Damn congressman keep whining because of the whole Columbia incident, quite dissapointing.
The X-74 has been scrapped.
The Mars mission set back six more years to 2014.
And now the ESA and RSA have taken over the ISS construction because the US won't launch shuttles.

NASA is a lost cause; if you want to go anywhere with space, stick with Europe, Russia or China.
*There's rumor of a Japanese space program being created....*

Too bad,
- Tass

I think what Nasa and the US needs is a Huge Hard Kick in the Ass when it comes to the space program. Think about it this way, we went to the moon with equipment that, may or may not have been really a good idea at the time. Also at that time if a astronaunt died during a mission he was a hero, and more then willing to die, just trying to get to space. Now a day's we are so worried about losing people we have gotten scared to scarfice ourselves or anyone else to further the cause.

We need someone in control of Nasa or another agency to step in and shake things up. This person needs to bring in younger, more adventurous sciencetists willing to risk there carriers and life. Today we are to afraid to risk live's for space, we have become acustom to this. We need to do a reality check and realize that Yes its tough to say but we will lose people.

Should we accept lose on a grand scale no, but loss's do happen and we have no control over that. Nothing we do is 100% safe when it comes to going to space, and may never be. But we can try to do it as safely as possible and still achieve what we need to do. Do i think a Mars Mission should go, no it should wait till we understand more of what long time zero gravity does to us. Are we as a people willing to wait no, but what about those people we send what about them.

What if they can't enter a gravity enviroment again, what will say then? Will we stand behind our dession to send them or change our stories to say look i told you we shouldn't send them. We really need to take a small step back and say this is do able if we do it this way frist. We can save more lives i think if we take smaller steps into space. But hey this is just my 2 cents.

Originally posted by Jay
I think what Nasa and the US needs is a Huge Hard Kick in the Ass when it comes to the space program. Think about it this way, we went to the moon with equipment that, may or may not have been really a good idea at the time. Also at that time if a astronaunt died during a mission he was a hero, and more then willing to die, just trying to get to space. Now a day's we are so worried about losing people we have gotten scared to scarfice ourselves or anyone else to further the cause.

We need someone in control of Nasa or another agency to step in and shake things up. This person needs to bring in younger, more adventurous sciencetists willing to risk there carriers and life. Today we are to afraid to risk live's for space, we have become acustom to this. We need to do a reality check and realize that Yes its tough to say but we will lose people.

Should we accept lose on a grand scale no, but loss's do happen and we have no control over that. Nothing we do is 100% safe when it comes to going to space, and may never be. But we can try to do it as safely as possible and still achieve what we need to do. Do i think a Mars Mission should go, no it should wait till we understand more of what long time zero gravity does to us. Are we as a people willing to wait no, but what about those people we send what about them.

What if they can't enter a gravity enviroment again, what will say then? Will we stand behind our dession to send them or change our stories to say look i told you we shouldn't send them. We really need to take a small step back and say this is do able if we do it this way frist. We can save more lives i think if we take smaller steps into space. But hey this is just my 2 cents.

I agree that we need some one (whether inside NASA or outside) to start deliberalizing the American populace. This mentality that none can be harmed while taking risks has got to go. We must put safety at or near the top, but the general populace must also come to understand that the men and women who sign up for these endeavours have already committed to the unknown...and know that the unknown may take their lives.

Concerning a "younger force" and the future space efforts. As a matter of fact, since the Ride document, the philosophy has been that older astronauts will be used for the Mars missions. Why? Because we do not know the long-term effects of near zero-gravity and exposure to radiation that will occur in the extended trip to...and from, Mars. Therefore, it makes most sense to use astronauts that are at an age that the potential side effects (permanent bone mass loss, cancer due to long-term radiation exposure, etc) has fewer years to manifest in the individual.

I have a few answers for you:


The U.S. will most likely NOT be in a space race with China. China plans to send a manned mission to the moon by 2020. We did that 1969 lol. Also, yes. The NASA program is probably more advanced than what is seen on the outside public. For security reasons, of course.

-wD

www.msnbc.com...

here is the link to the page of msnbc which speeks about 17 december president bush will go and give a speech about the moon and the future of space travel

[Edited on 4-12-2003 by MarkLuitzen]

NASA is planning on projects to Mars and is considering a moon bace project, but this won't be for another 15-20 years

The military program has been NASA for awhile.

Now that the military is moving in its own direction we will see a new NASA.

I expect a global operation with a lot of private corporations involved with doing work for the major governmental agencies. This will allow the agencies to do what they do best, envision projects and coordinate research while the private corporations will deliver on time cost effective solutions.

I can see in ten years time a far bigger effort by humankind in space than we have seen to date if there can be some restructuring of the major regional space agencies.

I'd have to agree with all of this, but add in that in less than a decade, I'd bet we'll see a huge influx of private corporations entering the space business (though mostly orbital)...

www.msnbc.com...

www.washingtonpost.com...