http://www.dailytech.com/Obama+Clarifies+Plans+for+NASA/article18150.htm

Quote :

"Obama expects to be around to see man walk on Mars The U.S. manned space flight programs were dealt a serious blow when Obama announced plans to go back to the moon were being shelved due to budget cuts and cost overruns. The budget cuts meant that the Constellation program would be cancelled. The outcry against the President's plan was swift from space program supporters and NASA. Obama quickly began to take steps to alter his plans and called for the Orion crew module originally planned as the shuttle replacement to be scaled back and used as a lifeboat for the ISS. Obama had announced that he would talk about his plans for NASA and the space program in Florida earlier this week. Obama has now aired his plans, clarifying some points and helping to dress wounds caused when he originally announced his plans for NASA. Obama's plan still calls for a scaled back Constellation program that would see the program continue, but only as a shadow of its former self. The changes still mean thousands in the space industry will be left jobless. The shuttle fleet is set to retire this year with only three more scheduled flights remaining for the fleet with the last scheduled for September. Obama has promised additional funds to allow NASA padding if a launch has to be rescheduled due to weather. Some hope that the extra funds can instead be used to fund an extra mission. Once the shuttle fleet is retired, getting astronauts to and from the ISS will be left to the Russian Soyuz spacecraft at a cost of about $50 million per round trip. Obama sees the future of U.S. space flight in the hands of private companies. Obama wants a new industry that will see private companies offering transportation services to NASA rather than the vehicles themselves. Obama said, "The new plan is to harness our nation's unparalleled system of free enterprise (as we have done in all other modes of transport), to create far more reliable and affordable rockets." The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Obama foresees manned missions to near Earth asteroids and perhaps even Mars in his lifetime. Obama said, "[By 2025 the U.S. will have a new spacecraft] designed for long journeys to allow us to begin the first-ever crewed missions beyond the moon into deep space." He continued saying, "We'll start by sending astronauts to an asteroid for the first time in history," he said. "By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth. And a landing on Mars will follow. And I expect to be around to see it." Obama said of a return trip to the moon, "We've been there before." Obama's plans for the space program still need the approval of Congress. Many lawmakers still plan to fight to keep the jobs that Obama's new budget will cut in their home districts. Obama's plans would see 2,500 jobs added in the Florida "Space Coast" by 2012. Thousands will still be unemployed due to the budget cuts."

4/16/2010 1:21:10 PM

SOCIALISM


















wait a second

Quote :

"Obama sees the future of U.S. space flight in the hands of private companies."

4/16/2010 1:23:44 PM

the meds making it hard to find soap box or what?

4/16/2010 1:23:45 PM

NASA's expenses are a pittance compared to almost anything else in the federal budget.

[Edited on April 16, 2010 at 1:24 PM. Reason : k]

4/16/2010 1:23:58 PM

I figured this shit is ridiculous enough to post in chit chat, Obama is a god damn idiot.

4/16/2010 1:24:31 PM

yeah this is one of the worst double-takes he's made in a while. first he cancels it then he rubs salt in the wound by trying to make it look like he is actually continuing it to save face and almost everyone still will lose their job...

4/16/2010 1:25:37 PM

This is the first time TKE-Teg and I have agreed on something.

The world explodes.

4/16/2010 1:25:40 PM

Very selective use of privatization...

4/16/2010 1:30:54 PM

I hope shit like this wakes up some people

4/16/2010 1:32:10 PM

Quote :

"I figured this shit is ridiculous enough to post in chit chat, Obama is a god damn idiot."

Either BlackDog is stepping up his troll game or I agree with him on something.

Also true:

Quote :

"NASA's expenses are a pittance compared to almost anything else in the federal budget."

If I was president, well I'd quadruple their budget. Half the innovation in this nation comes from NASA or related pet projects.

4/16/2010 1:34:26 PM

meh, private industry needs to find an economical reason to be in space. until then..no one is going to give a shit.

[Edited on April 16, 2010 at 1:35 PM. Reason : although i agree i wish we could just throw money at it]

4/16/2010 1:34:43 PM

Quote :

""His "return to Mars" is a nebulous plan to possibly put a man on one of Mar's moons (quite possibly the least scientifically interesting or useful destination in the solar system). Worse, the mission has no real plan ... its just a talking point with a conclusion possibly "sometime in the 2030s". But no roadmap to get us there...not that we even really want to. ""

4/16/2010 1:35:34 PM

^^^ i don’t know what you mean by “related pet projects” but probably most of the innovation comes from defense spending related research and non-defense spending related research, with NASA getting the benefit of this.




[Edited on April 16, 2010 at 1:38 PM. Reason : ]

4/16/2010 1:36:37 PM

I don't think Obama even knows about the moons creation associated with the earth. "We've been there before" is about the dumbest thing I've heard come out of a presidents mouth since "The war is over".

4/16/2010 1:38:20 PM

It's funny, I was reading about how the Chinese had an organized fleet of exploration ships well before Europe and then they just stopped everything, dismantling it and turning inward. Looks like history is repeating itself.

4/16/2010 1:38:32 PM

Space is most definitely where we are going, if it be our generation depends on the minds of today.

4/16/2010 1:39:34 PM

4/16/2010 1:39:49 PM

is that denzel?

4/16/2010 1:40:08 PM

^Chapelle

Quote :

"This is the first time TKE-Teg and I have agreed on something. The world explodes."

4/16/2010 1:49:33 PM

lol, video plz

4/16/2010 1:50:25 PM

Quote :

"Obama sees the future of U.S. space flight in the hands of private companies. Obama wants a new industry that will see private companies offering transportation services to NASA rather than the vehicles themselves. Obama said, "The new plan is to harness our nation's unparalleled system of free enterprise (as we have done in all other modes of transport), to create far more reliable and affordable rockets.""

I agree with this if it actually takes place.

4/16/2010 2:38:02 PM

rockets aren't going to magically become more stable/reliable because the gov't takes their hands off.

4/16/2010 2:40:11 PM

it's a pretty well-known fact that the government doesn't get anything done very efficiently

4/16/2010 2:41:06 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military-industrial_complex







[Edited on April 16, 2010 at 2:49 PM. Reason : /]

4/16/2010 2:47:44 PM

OH SHIT, something actually happened that could encourage this plan.

Quote :

"Obama's Plan to Commercialize Space Flight Gets Boost From Falcon 9 Launch"

http://www.dailytech.com/Obamas+Plan+to+Commercialize+Space+Flight+Gets+Boost+From+Falcon+9+Launch/article18636.htm

Quote :

"Republicans are criticizing the effort, cry for socialized space industry At around 2:35 p.m. on Friday, nine engines fired, propelling the 154-ft. SpaceX Falcon 9 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida into a fiery sprint through the Earth's atmosphere. Minutes later, the first stage fell off, dropping into the Atlantic Ocean, while a second stage fired, delivering a dummy payload into orbit 155 miles above Earth. For SpaceX, the mission was picture perfect -- a happy ending to years of struggles. SpaceX was founded in 2002 by tech-pioneer Elon Musk who serves as the company's CEO and CTO. Musk, also CEO of Tesla Motors, sunk $100M USD of his own PayPal fortune into the company. The company first saw success in September 2008 with the launch of its Falcon 1 rocket powered by its Merlin (first stage) and Kestrel (second stage) engines. On July 14, 2009, a Falcon 1 rocket delivered its first commercial payload -- the Malaysian RazakSAT satellite. Those successes came after a fair share of failures -- the first three launches of the Falcon 1 proved unsuccessful. Today, SpaceX is offering Falcon 1 launches for $8.9M USD, with slight discounts for mass contracts. The Falcon 9, launched Friday, is the next stage in its bid for commercial space dominance. The Falcon 9 is designed to carry much higher payloads. Where as the Falcon 1 can deliver 670 kg to low earth orbit (LEO), the Falcon 9 "heavy" variant can deliver 29 tons of cargo to low Earth orbit. The first stage of the Falcon 9 is powered by 9 first stage Merlin 1C rockets which burn liquid oxygen (LOX) and rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1) propellants. Those rockets are fired by dual redundant pyrophoric triethylaluminum-triethylborane (TEA-TEB) igniters. The first stage can produce 4.94 MN of thrust and 304 sec (3.0 kN/kg) of specific impulse in vacuum. A carbon fiber aluminum core composite structure joins the first and second stages. The design is made more affordable as the engine used in the second stage engine is identical to those found in the first, albeit with a smaller fuel tank and only a single engine. The second stage engine has a burn time of 345 s. At a press conference, CEO Musk commented, "I hope people don’t put too much emphasis on our success because it’s simply not correct to have the fate of commercial launch depend on what happens in the next few days. But it certainly does add to the pressure. There’s more weight on our shoulders because of that. I wish there weren’t." The issue of the commercialization of the space industry has created an unusual role reversal for the Democrats and Republicans in Washington D.C. President Obama, amid criticism about "nationalizing" the automobile industry is charging ahead with plans to privatize the space industry, a move long championed by the U.S. Armed Forces. Under his leadership, NASA has pledged $3.5B USD in contracts to SpaceX and Orbital Transportation Services, a rival firm. Republicans are decrying the denationalization effort and the delays that have ensued. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas, commented after the Friday launch, "Make no mistake even this modest success is more than a year behind schedule, and the project deadlines of other private space companies continue to slip as well." SpaceX is deaf to the criticism, though, and is turning its focus to continued commercialization of the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 platforms. It is also hard at work developing its Dragon capsule, a manned vessel that can seat up to 7. The capsule is expected to launch in a test flight aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, sometime this year or next. The craft utilizes PICA-X, a proprietary variant of NASA's phenolic impregnated carbon ablator material. Designs from SpaceX's and Orbital, under Obama's plan will service the International Space Station and replace NASA's aging Shuttle fleet, which is in the process of being retired."

6/8/2010 1:33:18 PM

NASA has been working with SpaceX and planning to contract them for years, way before this obama plan ever existed.

6/8/2010 1:34:36 PM

can we suspend posting privileges for BlackDog and have his username link to http://www.dailytech.com/rss.aspx instead?

it would amount to the same thing but with less wasted space on the tww server

6/8/2010 1:37:08 PM

why weren't you requesting that 2 months ago?

6/8/2010 1:37:53 PM

can we suspend posting privileges for BlackDog and have his username link to http://www.dailytech.com/rss.aspx instead?

it would amount to the same thing but with less wasted space on the tww server

6/8/2010 1:39:35 PM

why weren't you requesting that 2 months ago?

6/8/2010 1:40:42 PM

Jugalobama needs to find out how magnets work first, mars next. Also while in space watch your back because I hear there are black whores.

6/8/2010 1:42:26 PM

Event Horizon anyone?

6/8/2010 1:49:27 PM

Quote :

"Minutes later, the first stage fell off, dropping into the Atlantic Ocean, while a second stage fired, delivering a dummy payload into orbit 155 miles above Earth."

Obama needs to nationalize SpaceX now.

That first stage could have landed on a sea turtle or something.

6/8/2010 1:54:36 PM

Quote :

"NASA has been working with SpaceX and planning to contract them for years, way before this obama plan ever existed."

I figured this when I read it was launched at Cape Canaveral

6/8/2010 1:57:28 PM

Quote :

" WRAL Obama cures cancer. Critics say Obama only want to destroy jobs for cancer treatment centers. more at 11 "

6/8/2010 2:17:05 PM

0.6% of the national budget.

6/8/2010 3:02:54 PM

Obama as the root cause of oceanic death ITT....

look at my State Dept get that srs monies

6/8/2010 3:31:35 PM

^^but isnt adding mars to the list require cutting something else in order to maintain the same budget?

and isnt private industry at the point where with extra funding they can handle trips to the moon and also make space travel open to the public?

6/8/2010 3:44:13 PM

all those colors are too damn similar, shitty graphing ability/technique

6/8/2010 3:46:10 PM

^^Private industry has A LOT more research and development to do before they can even consider going to the moon. They can just barely get into low earth orbit and even then their reliability is too low to carry humans.

^True, it looks like whoever made it just used the default Excel colors.

6/8/2010 3:49:57 PM

^thats part of the point, the technology is almost there, this change in NASA will drive a lot of $$$$ to the private industry because private industry will not only be looking to commercialize space but will also be transporting NASA astronauts to and from space

this is what they need to get them over the hump

6/8/2010 4:05:39 PM

I think the major criticism of NASA is that they spend billions/trillions on R&D for 'simple' things. From what I've seen first hand working around Langley that comes from testing, retesting, and test it 50 more times just to be sure.

This, of course, is totally counter intuitive to the commercial industry. They test as little as possible to save funds.

Therefore, despite being fairly 'right' in my beliefs this is one industry I'm happy to leave in government hands and generally demand that we pour more money into it.

6/8/2010 5:21:08 PM

^we fly commercial aircraft and im pretty sure these companies know the consequences of having an accident while starting a commercial space business
they have just as much motivation and now will have the funds to get this off the ground the right way
also im sure the govt will be heavily involved in regulating the safety

6/9/2010 12:49:03 AM

^haha, come on. 90% of their safety advancements came from NASA testing it's own rigs. Everything down to the chair you sit in was perfected at NASA and the NTSB. Why? 'Cause they needed it for their planes first.

We're seeing this exact same advancement right now - NASA technology is being applied to the commercial sector in terms of spaceflight. All we have to do is keep the bureaucracy from dicking up the process that lead the airline industry to be the safest form of transportation.

6/9/2010 2:02:12 AM

and the technology needed to make safe trips to the moon has already been invented, in only needs to be modified
which im sure private industry is capable of doing

6/9/2010 2:05:46 AM

Quote :

""The new plan is to harness our nation's unparalleled system of free enterprise (as we have done in all other modes of transport), to create far more reliable and affordable rockets.""

hahahahahahahahahaha

6/9/2010 2:23:21 AM

I'm confused by Republicans recently. They want a "socialized space industry." Then they complain Obama isn't seizing private property to deal with the oil spill.

What happened to socialism = bad?

6/9/2010 2:30:21 AM

^its obama=bad
and they'll oppose whatever he supports, no matter what



[Edited on June 9, 2010 at 2:58 AM. Reason : .]

6/9/2010 2:57:17 AM

well, for one, nasa doesn't threaten individual rights.

6/9/2010 6:10:35 AM

NASA should be considered part of our national defense.

6/9/2010 9:09:20 AM