I'm of mixed feelings on the course that NASA is currently taking. Privatizing space exploration feels like a big time mistake but it gives the US Air Force a tremendous opportunity. I'm also a bit jaded on the MPCV.
We've given up on the Shuttle concept and are reverting back to a Big Apollo type capsule.
The current NASA Chief is a former Marine. And I can't say that I'm impressed by his leadership. First the outreach to Muslims via our space program and now the muddle that is our manned flight program?
Yeah, I'm not impressed. More like disappointed.
Read about the MPCV here.
The way I see it, NASA should contract out the launch and LEO (low earth orbit) to private companies. That way they could refocus all their resources to BEO (beyond Earth orbit) missions. Things like the Nautilus-X deep space platform. In theory you could use it as a station at a LaGrange point, then around the moon, and then even further out. A true spaceship that doesn't need to land on Earth.
ReplyDeletebut thats going to play into the USAF's hands...not necessarily a bad thing but i was looking at NASA historically and they've always been cutting edge. it seems that something got lost somewhere and the only place i can see that loss is the decision after Apollo got canned. they could have gone big Apollo or the Shuttle...they chose the Shuttle and in essence gave up on deep space manned missions.
ReplyDeleteyour idea has merit but its basically the NASA plan.
why is the outreach a bad thing?
ReplyDeletemy opinion.
ReplyDeletethe outreach itself isn't a bad thing. the agency conducting the outreach though shouldn't be NASA.
our space agency faces too many challenges to have one single bit of attention diverted from space exploration in general and manned space flight in particular. if you want to use USAID or the State Dept then fine. but not NASA.