Digest Number 52

MarsCity1@... wrote: The Moon Is not in competion with Mars. We should explore both, ultilize
both and colonize both. They're both part of the new & final frontier of
space.
I agree if we are talking robotic missions only. But the moment manned mission to Mars comes into the picture then just like the space station and other manned missions before it so much money will be sucked out of the available budget that anything else will only get the leftovers. But then as per my previous posting without some type of manned mission there may not be as large a budget.
Which brings up the question: Would the High Frontier goal be better served by a NASA focused on manned missions or on a NASA which has no manned missions? I believe that a much smaller NASA without a manned mission program would be better. Simply because there is a strong possibility that there would then be more money to pursue something other than manned missions. And as I have stated before real space commercialization will be robotic not manned. (point for thought. Are there any manned platforms used for communications? There could have been. Would it make any sense? The same reasons that there are no manned communications satellites are the same reasons that commercialization will be robotic.)
Mitchell James
http://www.InnerTransit.org
mejames@...