Here are some excerpts from a blog that I enjoyed reading this
afternoon.

http://www.functionalambivalent.blogspot.com/

"Now that we've all bought into the Mars trip, it's time to start
killing the successful, cost-effective space programs. First on the
chopping block: The Hubble Space Telescope, which will be allowed to
expire in orbit so that all future manned space missions can, per
the President's order, focus on sending men to Mars."

The underlying message I think is that people are enamored of space
theatre, not space programs that advance some goal.

In my next post I'll detail where I think space effort should be
directed, but I'll continue the space related excerpts for now.

"I wish I had more confidence in President Bush's scientific wisdom.
I wish I believed he was really engaged and making a measured
choice. But I don't. I fear he's nearly illiterate, scientifically,
and that he's cobbled together the Mars mission to fend off
questions about what came to be called in his father's
administration "the vision thing." "

Well, I'm more cynical in my assessment and I'm not even sure that
this proposal has legs. I suspect that it will wither away with time.

Here's one that I particularly enjoyed:

"I'm very excited about this whole Mars thing. Not about the trip to
Mars, of course. We could do a vastly more cost effective job of
exploring the planet with robots. No, what I'm excited about is the
now-apparent Bush Vision.

President Bush's father, President Bush, had a vision problem, of
course. He didn't seem to picture any particular kind of America,
except that he thought we should be an America led by President Bush.

President Bush's son, President Bush, proved with his call for a
Mars invasion that he, unlike his father, has a vision. A grand,
coherent, inspiring vision. It is a vision that is Reaganesque in
it's clarity, Teddy Rooseveltian in its boldness, and Versace-ist in
its colorful grandeur.

President Bush has given birth to the Big Government Conservative.

That's right, campers: Our President has married the most
irresponsible urges of both Liberals and Conservatives to unite the
nation. He's a uniter, not a divider! Remember? He told us that in
the campaign, and we - oh, we cynical we - didn't believe him. But
here he is, uniting the big spending impulses of the worst Liberals
with the police state yearnings of the vilest Conservatives.

The Bush Vision has arrived...and it's China! That's right! He wants
the United States to be more like China! Capitalist, in the sense
that certain well-connected people make insane amounts of money. But
without the clutter of personal freedom or fiscal responsibility.
Plus, China's going to the moon, so we should too.

I love it. I'm getting Kung Pao chicken for lunch to celebrate."

And for those who like a little politics in their blog-reading:

"Well, at least we know what it takes to get the Bush Administration
to investigate something. It took 18 months and a huge amount of
Congressional pressure to get an investigation of 9/11 going. The
investigation into the apparently vengeful exposure of an undercover
CIA operative, Valerie Plame, is moving about as fast as OJ
Simpson's search for his wife's killer.

But go on "60 Minutes" and say something uncomplimentary about the
President and, hey presto! You're under investigation in only 24
hours."

Of course, the author can be a bit irreverent too:

"Oh - and this may be an irrelevant and condescending generalization
about people who are no doubt dedicated and competent public
servants - all the women who worked in the office had really weird
asses. Their asses were all boxy: Wide at the top, up by the hips,
and narrow at the bottom."

TangoMan

> Here are some excerpts from a blog that I enjoyed reading this
> afternoon.
>
> http://www.functionalambivalent.blogspot.com/
>
> "Now that we've all bought into the Mars trip, it's time to start
> killing the successful, cost-effective space programs. First on the
> chopping block: The Hubble Space Telescope, which will be allowed to
> expire in orbit so that all future manned space missions can, per
> the President's order, focus on sending men to Mars."

I'll respond to your other post later, but I just wanted to point out
that the abandonment of Hubble has been almost inevitable ever since
the CAIB report came out. The report recommended that future shuttle
missions include visual inspection of the TPS, which is currently only
possible on station missions. Throw in the fact that the replacement
for Hubble is under development, and the justification for a repair
mission begins to appear tenuous. I think the cost benefit analysis
works out in favor of a mission to keep Hubble going, but I have a
basic science bias, so I can see how reasonable people can disagree (I
also think that risk to astronaut lives is acceptable ata level far
higher than NASA does). A Hubble repair mission would require either
going against the CAIB recommendations or developing a TPS inspection
device which is hard to justify if the shuttle is going to be retired
soon anyway.

......Andrew

>Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 00:47:12 -0500
>
(I
also think that risk to astronaut lives is acceptable ata level far
higher than NASA does).

Now here is an issue that irks me no end... With the law suit atmosphere
over the last two or three decades, and the overboard safety conciousness
that has developed, how in the heck are we ever going to get anywhere???

I am sure that no pioneers at any time, from the original Pacific Islanders
to the Donner Party, or heck, Homo Erectus, were limited to the degree that
we are. And so they moved forward. To quote a phrase: Some times you just
got to say what the... (or something like that) and do it. Otherwise we are
caught in the energy sapping, ambition destroying, analysis paralysis that
grips manned space exploration.

Can you just see a class action lawsuit against some International Space
Corp because space habiteers weren't adaquetely warned about explosive
decrompression? Or that they aren't getting quality sleep because of all the
bright flashes that occur when they close their eyes?

I'll bet that the astronauts would except a higher risk level, and they're
the ones putting it on the line.

Val