Bush to announce missions to moon and Mars

[elektro80]

Bush to announce missions to moon and Mars

Various Washington news reports, citing unnamed sources, say President George W. Bush will make a revolutionary speech about the U.S. space program next week. The stories say voyages to the moon will resume, followed by the first human expedition to Mars.
ASSOCIATED PRESS ARTICLE
REUTERS ARTICLE
UPI ARTICLE


We have not yet traced the dude who told Bush that Bin Laden is hiding on the dark side of the moon. Quite probably he has forwarded his mail to Mars.

[mosc]

Just a note to our non-American friends. I was out riding around doing errands today and listening to the right wing talk shows on AM radio. The conservatives are angry at George Bush. They don't like this new immigration plan he announced. They don't like the big spending programs that are going on and creating the deficit. They don't like the quagmire in Iran. I lot of them think he has betrayed his conservative base. I was surprised to hear this, even on Rush Limbaugh's program. An expensive space program is just going to cost more money and deepen the deficit. I don't think conservatives will line up to salute the flag on this one. Besides, anyone can see the space scientists are liberal intellectuals. Maybe he can save things by staffing the program with average and mediocre people and save conservative support. We'll see.

[elektro80]

I am a geek .. so I would love to see a new space program.. as long as others take all the risk. The new Space program should be international. It is a completely sick idea that one country is going to start a project like this.

On the other hand.. this might get the dubya reelected.

[seraph]

Rush Limbaugh jokes



"I'm sorry but there is no more cake, Mr. Limbaugh." Letterman's top 10 list of things overheard at Trump's wedding.

"There's a new organization being formed. It's called 'Feminists, Homeless, and Blacks for Limbaugh." And they're meeting in a phone booth in Wichita." Larry King

"The Florida Citrus Commission chose Rush Limbaugh as their spokesman. Officials say Limbaugh was chosen for his popularity, his sense of humor, and his uncanny resemblance to a giant grapefruit." Kevin Nealon, Saturday Night Live

After listening to Rush go on and on about some pet complaints against Democrats, especially the Clinton, David Letterman commented, "Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night and just think to yourself, I'm just full of hot gas?"

[mosc]

[elektro80]

Download the small video file from this page

http://www.atmo.se/?pageID=4&articleID=426


Excellent!

[Cyxeris]

[mosc]

Dust Storm on the Red Planet

There are a great deal of great pictures on NASA's Mars site.

These cheap science fair Mars and Moon robots are very nice; we get new knowledge, push the state-of-the-art, and get a vicarious experience of exploration via our computers, just the way we experience many other things. There are too many hungry people on Earth to start spending billions sending people to Mars, IMHO.

Here a nice view showing a huge planet-engulfing dust storm. Amazing, and low cost too.

[Cyxeris]

I would agree with the hunger trumping manned space explorations in the priority arena, but I think that there is a great deal more going on socioeconomically, far greater and more dastardly wastes of money that do not bear the optimism and altitude of manned space exploration. I'm sure people were starving in Portugal and Spain circa 1490, but the pressing forward and outward continued and, genocide aside, was not a misplaced agenda, I think. At least in principle. Of course, you know how hindsight is and all that.

Now, robotic exploration is EASILY more cost effective than manned spaceflight, sure, but there is something about planting footprints that goes far beyond the accolades appropriate for remotes. Onward, upward, outward. That is the human way. MY human way, at least.

Cyx

[mosc]

[Cyxeris]

I dont see why both arent possible, concurrently at that. After all, when it comes to names, how about how much is spent on military efforts compared to A. space exploration and B. solving indigence. It's often easy to overlook and understate the potential energy of this nation. We're too indoctrinated by the status quo, the acceptance of the now, and the way things are. It's hard to see the stars for the sunlight. We need a shift in frequency, and to me, space exploration and solving hunger and illness are both part of the same thing, the same manifest destiny, which is, in many senses, the antithesis of the moral whirlwind sewn and reaped by the european conquerers. Anything can be turned bad, but the messenger shouldn't betray the message, even if there ARE white people on board.

It all boils down the the motivator. Greed and exploitation, or progress and exploration? After all, the tools are often identical.

Cyx

[Cyxeris]

And then there is the added issue, the more personal and somewhat greedy (admittedly) interest in seeing these things come to pass soon is to see them in my lifetime. Perhaps if life expectancies started reaching into the healthy triple digits, my attitude may change, but for now, the imperative is there. It drives me.

The biggest problem I see with these things though, the resurgance of outward momentum from the powers that be, is that the motivation appears to be applause. Always for the success, always for the applause, whether in the form of money, support, re-election, approval. So seldom about progress. Always success, always applause.

How does it go? They thirst for the emotion of success and applause, of which we are remarkably generous.

Cyx

[mosc]

[Cyxeris]

[Guest]

i don;t know...if any evidence of life on mars is found, it will re-order all world religions and maybe they willl become defunct...and a more expanded theology and universal view of things may develop .. maybe less wars as a result

that may be worth more than any cost

[paul e.]

[mosc]

Hmm. The Guest post, Sudden, is a bug. I'll try to track it down.

Certainly, if they found evidence of life on Mars, I'd change my tune about sending poeple there. That would be profound.

If that would promote a more universalist theology, I tould be thrilled. But that's where I'm coming from in all this discussion. A more expanded, open, universalist view would make people more compelled to take care of the tragic human condition and the environmental crisis here on Earth. Do we need to send people to the Moon and Mars to plant the American flag to do that?

[Mohoyoho]

I don't think it was a coincident that Bush announced his Space plans after the Chinese stated their goals to land on the Moon. Do you think a US moon base would be used primarily for science or for the military?

[elektro80]

[Cyxeris]

It would, in all reality, most likely be used as a federal budgetary slush fund. Hey! Where'd all that money go? Why, to the moonbase! That's an expensive sucker, ya know!

Cyx

[paul e.]

mosc wrote

[elektro80]

I cannot quite see that the US economy is strong enough to handle wars, the rebuilding of Afghanistan and Iraq, -and then the new moonbase and the new Mars missions. Anyway, the new space program should be an international project. This would of course make it slightly more difficult to set up US rail guns and nuclear arsenals on the moon. Those "damned french" etc etc etc..

[Cyxeris]

Maybe Mars could be used as a planetary plantation, a food manufactory of global proportions. A "Planetation" with lots of robots tending to the fruits and vegetables and soy and whatever herbs are legal to import into Earth and all of that.

Then again, probably not.

Cyx

[elektro80]

Listen guys, his dad announced the same thing back in 1989? Not?

[Cyxeris]

But then there was that war stuff to focus on, then Clinton. DJ Mix Master W got his wars out of the way first, and now we can go to the moon and mars.

Cyx