8 thoughts on “Norm Augustine, Mark Kelly And Scott Hubbard”
They won’t say this of course, but what they’re thinking is, “what a great way to waste tax dollars and not actually accomplish anything.” They don’t seem to realize who the new president is.
So best case scenario, we go there (a few decades behind whatever schedule we finally settle on), plant a flag, then wait another half century before even thinking about returning. Yep, works for me.
Put up a 20 billion dollar prize… if no one bites.. doesn’t cost taxpayers?
Not enough opportunities for graft.
Prizes have issues though. Winning one doesn’t necessarily mean that any activity can/will happen after the prize is won.
The editorial says NASA currently spends 8 billion dollars a year on human spaceflight out of a total NASA budget of 19 billion.
I have a feeling that if NASA just gave Elon Musk a blank check for 8 billion dollars every year, that instead of just reaching Mars by 2033 Mars would be colonized by 2033.
How about 8 one billion annual prizes to be given to 8 different companies that show the most progress toward colonization that year?
That would include companies that aren’t just rocket companies.
COULD AMERICA BE the first country to put humans on Mars? Should it be? And is it a race we can win?
What is this race to Mars? Who is participating?
There is no race to Mars.
OK, maybe that isn’t true. Musk and NASA want to go to Mars. Will the USA race against Musk? Seems pointless.
China, Russia, and the EU are racing to the Moon. We haven’t decided if we will participate in that race yet or how we will participate if we do.
It seems to me a better path is to leverage both destinations through developing cislunar space.
They won’t say this of course, but what they’re thinking is, “what a great way to waste tax dollars and not actually accomplish anything.” They don’t seem to realize who the new president is.
So best case scenario, we go there (a few decades behind whatever schedule we finally settle on), plant a flag, then wait another half century before even thinking about returning. Yep, works for me.
Put up a 20 billion dollar prize… if no one bites.. doesn’t cost taxpayers?
Not enough opportunities for graft.
Prizes have issues though. Winning one doesn’t necessarily mean that any activity can/will happen after the prize is won.
The editorial says NASA currently spends 8 billion dollars a year on human spaceflight out of a total NASA budget of 19 billion.
I have a feeling that if NASA just gave Elon Musk a blank check for 8 billion dollars every year, that instead of just reaching Mars by 2033 Mars would be colonized by 2033.
How about 8 one billion annual prizes to be given to 8 different companies that show the most progress toward colonization that year?
That would include companies that aren’t just rocket companies.
COULD AMERICA BE the first country to put humans on Mars? Should it be? And is it a race we can win?
What is this race to Mars? Who is participating?
There is no race to Mars.
OK, maybe that isn’t true. Musk and NASA want to go to Mars. Will the USA race against Musk? Seems pointless.
China, Russia, and the EU are racing to the Moon. We haven’t decided if we will participate in that race yet or how we will participate if we do.
It seems to me a better path is to leverage both destinations through developing cislunar space.