That's No Moon...

Here is an interesting article detailing a conversation the Obama transition team is apparently having with NASA. In essence, they are considering integrating NASA and the Pentagon's space arm to save time in replacing the shuttle and accelerating the ability of the US to put people on the moon.

In part, dissolving the traditional firewall between the civilian space agency and the military would be a time- and cost- saving exercise. However, as the story details, it would also be a response to China's accelerating militarization of space. The Chinese have been working on technologies to disable the satellite network the US relies on to communicate, which the military would obviously prefer to avoid.

I don't have any first hand experience with NASA, or with the Pentagon for that matter, but it's difficult to believe that either entity would be entirely happy working with the other. It also suggests an interesting new dimension for the arms race between these two nations in the coming decades.

The Right Stuff, the Wrong Budget

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with space, NASA, the Space Shuttle and pretty much science in general. I had an eight foot tall poster of the Space Shuttle on my bedroom wall at my parent's house (still do, in fact). I still love it, which is why it pains me to read about manned space flight coming to an end – at least for the United States. That part doesn’t pain me, although I think it makes the world substantially less cool. What pains me is the fact that I can’t really mount an argument for manned space flight that rises above, “But it’s so cool!” That would work and be adequate reason for an eight year old, but I just don’t think it’s a rationale that an adult should embrace (at least not by itself).

As undeniably sweet as it is to have a space station, I don’t think the science it produces justifies the cost. There are tons of things that NASA is doing – from sending a probe to the sun to all the various Mars probes going on – that are producing good science at reasonable costs. I don’t think this should be the end for NASA. I do think we should reconsider what we get out of something in a clear, levelheaded way. Although, if NASA were to decide that they wanted to send me into space, I would consider changing my mind.

We Are Not Alone

Or so says Edgar Mitchell, one of only twelve people to have walked on the moon, in this report from Reuters. My favorite part of the video was his declaration that the government lied about finding aliens because we didn't want the Soviets to know (otherwise I'm sure they would have put it in the President's radio address).

My favorite part of the written report was the line, "NASA denies it is involved in an alien conspiracy or cover up." No shit? I'm surprised they didn't come clean. Can you imagine actually asking the NASA spokesman, "So, is NASA part of an alien conspiracy or cover up?"