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Will there even be a Mars program? Despite the visions of Presidents, Economic failure will destroy even the simplest of plans.
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Don't trust governments to do the job, private enterprise will do it, unless the world governments are competitive enough to cause a space race for the resources out there.
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I voted for something else, because what I like to see append to NASA was not listed.
Although I have talked about outsourcing unmanned launches and I believe that much of NASA will be outsourced, I still don’t believe in a whole sale outsourcing of NASA for the sake of outsourcing NASA. There are places where it make sense to outsource to private American Corporations to do certain things and there are other areas that make sense to keep the business in house at NASA. We would have to do an item by item check list to see who we want to do what and on what terms they do what needs to be done.
NASA could be stagnating, but it mostly because it being strangled from above rather that by internal cost. They may need some minor modification occasionally, but the NASA we got and there administration cost are not the main issue if we have an expanding economy. NASA administration cost only become issue when we have a collapsing economy, because you are always looking for some place to cut money out of the system.
The third choice is also possible, because NASA not allowed to do what such an agency like that should be doing, so it may be considered irrelevant or too expensive to be financed and maybe even be discarded too.
NASA could be down graded to being only an unmanned Space Agency, which would be unfortunate. Unmanned mission are cheaper to run, but they also lower the sites what you can accomplish too.
Now the remaining are complete nonse, the join English speaking nation space agency, the North and South American space agency and United Nations space agency.
It will become an outsourcer to the private sector?
It will stagnate and die under it's own admin costs?
It will be cut back as irrelivent by successive governments?
It will form the space agency for all english speaking nations?
It will form an ESA-like agency with other American Nations?
It will cut Astronaut programs in favour of unmanned probes?
It will become the space agency of the United Nations?
Something else?
Larry,
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I voted something else, If we could see the future we would the world would be in a lot happier state than it is. But we cant but we can discern trends.
The trend is that the traditional nation state is becoming less a player in a global sense companies are becoming more and more multi global.
I think that NASA as a goverment agency will fade out as we gain more capacity in space and it will become other agencies of the United States that will take over the operation and utilisation of space. And this does mean a space navy of sorts
Chan eil mi aig a bheil ùidh ann an gleidheadh an status quo; Tha mi airson cur às e.
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How about "NASA will continue to follow the mission set by the President of the United States."
NASA is not being strangled, they get enough money to do what they are doing.
NASA will never outsource missions, if it did it would invalidate itself. The best and brightest work for NASA so how is it cheaper to outsource to a company that does not have the infrastructure and best people?
If you want to put a human on the moon or mars, you need NASA. Nothing else comes close.
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But it is entirely feasible that NASA will actually make itself redundant. It just has to get enough structure in space before what is the more traditional arms of the goverment begin to take over and another agency but one of governance is formed.
We are of course not talking about the near future but it is entirely feasible the way the Bush vision wished space exploration utilisation to go.
Chan eil mi aig a bheil ùidh ann an gleidheadh an status quo; Tha mi airson cur às e.
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What you are talking about is NASA with a different name. That is all.
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No more like a break up. NASA's purpose is to advance aeronautics and to be Americas space authority. The aeronautics side is being increasingly taken by private sources and other sections of Americas goverment. NASA authority would weaken when there becomes an increased permanent prescence in space and if there was to be colonisation it is certain that NASA would not be in charge of the colony.
Still we are talking the future and who knows that.....
Chan eil mi aig a bheil ùidh ann an gleidheadh an status quo; Tha mi airson cur às e.
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It will become the space agency for the english speaking world.
Why?. Because they all share a common heritage in the social and political sphere, so it´s likely they will share a common vision of the future.
Nuno Martinho Da Cunha Cardoso
The Author of:"The Diagonal Method: An Alternative Approach To Arithmetics."
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there is a good thread here
http://www.newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1875
looking ahead to the politics of the future
'first steps are not for cheap, think about it...
did China build a great Wall in a day ?' ( Y L R newmars forum member )
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NASA is to old. The next president should fire every damn bureaucrat there and others who waste money. It should be divided into two parts. One side studies and reasearches new technology that can aid us in space travel. The other side will become an agency like FDA. They regulate who can go to space and with what vehicle.
"...all I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by."
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NASA is old, certainly as a goverment agency and yes it has become what everyones worst nightmare of a goverment agency is a beauracratic mess. But can it be salvaged yes. The problem is that the current middle management come from a time where after the heady days of appollo NASA was forced to prove its identity and the reason for its existence. To do that everything became a bigger and bigger paper trail.
Add the traditional infighting between certain sections and its large size then no surprise that NASA is a dinosaur. But then is it possible to reinvent itself, YES. But unfortunatly in history reinventing goverment departments there has often been a tendency to increase redtape at the expense of actually getting things done. In effect a lot more rear echelon and a lot less shop floor. Then effeciency targets get asked for and overworked front rankers make mistakes.
Chan eil mi aig a bheil ùidh ann an gleidheadh an status quo; Tha mi airson cur às e.
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