I just noticed something. Democratic administrations talk about Earth
Observation and focus NASA on unmanned space objectives. When
Republicans are in, the Earth Observation systems get seriously
downgraded or canceled and we get expensive (overruns galore) manned
programs that spend money in every congressional district possible.
ways though the corrupting influence of big oil seems strongest in the
Republican party which could explain the lack of Earth Observation. Why
would the Republican party favor manned space programs and the
Democrats unmanned?
Mitchell James
> I just noticed something. Democratic administrations talk about Earth
> Observation and focus NASA on unmanned space objectives. When
> Republicans are in, the Earth Observation systems get seriously
> downgraded or canceled and we get expensive (overruns galore) manned
> programs that spend money in every congressional district possible.
>
> Why should this be? The parties are not that much different in many
> ways though the corrupting influence of big oil seems strongest in the
> Republican party which could explain the lack of Earth Observation. Why
> would the Republican party favor manned space programs and the
> Democrats unmanned?
the Republicans are most interested in whatever directs the most money
to their big corporate sponsors -- manned missions just happen to be
good for that. Democrats in general are most interested in minimizing
such spending, and protecting the climate; unmanned missions happen to
be better for that. I doubt that either party really cares about manned
vs. unmanned per se.
It's disappointing though, given Obama's desire to "motivate and inspire
students to excel in science and math" [1], that he doesn't see the
value of manned space in doing exactly that. Take a small fraction of
the money from your least-favorite war, and give it to NASA to have
people do interesting things in space (such as build a lunar base), and
you'd have students scrambling to become scientists and engineers.
On the other hand, if/when commercial space takes off, the same thing
will happen, with a lot more great job opportunities to go around to
boot. So I credit the last two presidents with one not-so-dumb move
each: Bush for lifting the Moon taboo, and Obama for (finally!) getting
NASA out of the launch business, thus ensuring a real commercial launch
industry.
Best,
- Joe
[1]
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2009/11/24/obama-launches-new-stem-initiatives/
From Hank Smith, I go to Science Fiction Conventions, and Space Science is often discussed there. Manned Space Exploration improves the chances of noticings SIGNS OF LIFE!!
I just noticed something. Democratic administrations talk about Earth
Observation and focus NASA on unmanned space objectives. When
Republicans are in, the Earth Observation systems get seriously
downgraded or canceled and we get expensive (overruns galore) manned
programs that spend money in every congressional district possible.
Why should this be? The parties are not that much different in many
ways though the corrupting influence of big oil seems strongest in the
Republican party which could explain the lack of Earth Observation. Why
would the Republican party favor manned space programs and the
Democrats unmanned?
Mitchell James