OASIS sounds interesting. Who needs DEWs when you can fry bad guys using sunlight and a giant magnifying glass? 😉
This sort of budget chart is not particularly useful. Experimental Spaceplane 1 is requesting slightly more than last year and ALASA significantly less. But how does that compare to the amount of money they need to make progress? ALASA is supposed to be moving into flight test this year. Is the drop in funding because most of the hardware is complete? Or because ALASA is being given lower priority (quite possible since the SeeMe satellites it was designed to launch have now been cancelled)?
Without knowing such details, it’s impossible to say whether these numbers represent good news or bad news.
Unfortunately, this is way most government space programs are presented to the public (and the space community as a whole). Too often, space cadets only look at the bottom line, cheering every increase and booing every cut (or reduction in the rate of increase) rather than looking at what is needed and how the money is spent.
OASIS sounds interesting. Who needs DEWs when you can fry bad guys using sunlight and a giant magnifying glass? 😉
This sort of budget chart is not particularly useful. Experimental Spaceplane 1 is requesting slightly more than last year and ALASA significantly less. But how does that compare to the amount of money they need to make progress? ALASA is supposed to be moving into flight test this year. Is the drop in funding because most of the hardware is complete? Or because ALASA is being given lower priority (quite possible since the SeeMe satellites it was designed to launch have now been cancelled)?
Without knowing such details, it’s impossible to say whether these numbers represent good news or bad news.
Unfortunately, this is way most government space programs are presented to the public (and the space community as a whole). Too often, space cadets only look at the bottom line, cheering every increase and booing every cut (or reduction in the rate of increase) rather than looking at what is needed and how the money is spent.