When we locked ourselves into a date for a moon landing, we devoted enormous resources to it. We gained a lot more out of that investment than putting a pole on the moon, though. To start with, it inspired the whole country during a time of uncertainty, both politically and economically. Our education system changed massively and for the better. We had a major chunk of a whole generation who decided to become educated, many of them engineers, and much of our current SOTA is little more than a direct derivative of things developed for that mission.
Personally, I'd like to see something like that happen again. I'd like to see a president say, "We'll be on Mars within the next decade," and be willing to push the government toward that goal. Some might say now is not the time for it, but I say now is exactly the time for it. It's not like Kennedy made his declaration during a time of prosperity.
We don't have presidents with vision, anymore, though. We have two parties that vilify each other with no greater ambition than to thwart the other side. I think it's a really sad state of affairs when people think the greatest threat to America is other Americans. Yeah, we talk about the looming specter of terrorism and a nuclear-armed Iran, but lets be realistic about who politicians think are the real enemy. The conservatives are afraid of liberals turning the US into a coddled, decadent welfare state with no sense of morality. The liberals are afraid of the conservatives turning the US into a xenophobic, fascist state with all of its wealth concentrated at the top.
So when I look at NASA, I agree that nothing spectacular has been done in recent history, but I think that's a sign of the times more than ineptitude on their part. NASA is an extension of the government, and its major plans have to be an extension of government vision. It's not an independent organization with unlimited funding to do whatever it wants that is hindered only by its lack of ambition.
Comments
When we locked ourselves into a date for a moon landing, we devoted enormous resources to it. We gained a lot more out of that investment than putting a pole on the moon, though. To start with, it inspired the whole country during a time of uncertainty, both politically and economically. Our education system changed massively and for the better. We had a major chunk of a whole generation who decided to become educated, many of them engineers, and much of our current SOTA is little more than a direct derivative of things developed for that mission.
Personally, I'd like to see something like that happen again. I'd like to see a president say, "We'll be on Mars within the next decade," and be willing to push the government toward that goal. Some might say now is not the time for it, but I say now is exactly the time for it. It's not like Kennedy made his declaration during a time of prosperity.
We don't have presidents with vision, anymore, though. We have two parties that vilify each other with no greater ambition than to thwart the other side. I think it's a really sad state of affairs when people think the greatest threat to America is other Americans. Yeah, we talk about the looming specter of terrorism and a nuclear-armed Iran, but lets be realistic about who politicians think are the real enemy. The conservatives are afraid of liberals turning the US into a coddled, decadent welfare state with no sense of morality. The liberals are afraid of the conservatives turning the US into a xenophobic, fascist state with all of its wealth concentrated at the top.
So when I look at NASA, I agree that nothing spectacular has been done in recent history, but I think that's a sign of the times more than ineptitude on their part. NASA is an extension of the government, and its major plans have to be an extension of government vision. It's not an independent organization with unlimited funding to do whatever it wants that is hindered only by its lack of ambition.