NASA has become *extremely* risk averse. I worked on flight software for an instrument on a SMEX mission about seven years ago. There was a travelling trove of reviewers for everything we did. There were more people reviewing us than we had on our development team. Part of it, I suspect, is a swing back from the better-faster-cheaper days. There were a number of high profile failures from that time period. However, I also think it reflects what has become of our nation. We don't dare to take giant leaps anymore. Clear skies, Dale. -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Jared Smith Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2013 4:43 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Mar's Mission unlikely NASA says Can you imagine if the National Academy's Institute of Medicine were deciding the fate of our first Great Space Race? We'd never have left low-earth orbit. Jared On Sun, Sep 22, 2013 at 4:24 PM, Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> wrote:
I never wrote that, Joe. My post was to the effect that discussions about what targets are more important than others in the short-term is pointless in light of a lack of national will and miniscule budgets.
There is a natural progression of where we explore, how we explore it, and on what timetable, but that prioritization is always mucked-up by politics and personal agendas of people on the "inside" and those who want to do things before we are truly ready, either technologically, fiscally, or mentally. We go forward in fits and starts, often taking backwards steps because of the reasons I listed. A long-term plan would help smooth out space exploration immensely. Long-term means more than ten, fifteen, or twenty years.
On Sun, Sep 22, 2013 at 3:44 PM, Joe Bauman <josephmbauman@yahoo.com> wrote:
It doesn't matter what we explore? That's kind of a defeatist attitude, Chuck. The question matters a great deal to people with a burning curiosity to know whether life exists elsewhere. Discussions about probes aren't silly banter. True, we might not be destined for space travel -- in which case the next step up the tree of evolution on our particular planet is a better-adapted cockroach. Why not at least try to learn about our surroundings?
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