Baker Institute experts urge Obama administration to … refocus NASA on energy and climate concerns

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://blogs.chron.com/deepspace/2009/02/baker_institute_experts_urge_o.html

February 02, 2009

Baker Institute experts urge Obama administration to extend space shuttle operations, refocus NASA on energy and climate concerns

An http://www.bakerinstitute.org/publications/SPACE-pub-ObamaTransitionAbbeyLaneMuratore-012009.pdf">assessment of space policy by the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University would send NASA in new directions by giving up missions to the moon and placing a near-term emphasis on energy and climate concerns.

The shuttle's 2010 retirement would be postponed until 2015. The extension would enable American astronauts to reach the international space station without launching aboard Russian Soyuz capsules at NASA's expense. The station would become the focus of renewed scientific research.

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They fault former President George Bush's five-year-old moon initiative for what they view as the current morass. Underfunded by the previous administration, the moon initiative forced NASA to turn a cold shoulder to environmental observations, robotic planetary missions, even aeronautics.

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As part of a longer term energy strategy, NASA would pioneer efforts to develop a means of wirelessly transmitting solar energy from Earth orbit to the ground. The shuttle could be drafted to participate in the experiment.

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[Ian David]

1. Bush's un-funded mandate to go to The Moon and Mars was designed to bankrupt NASA...

... so they couldn't do all those pesky "Earth Science" things that kept monitoring Global Warming and pollution.

I call it "No Astronaut Left Behind."

[Believing Is Art]

2. I hate NASA

I'm an aerospace engineer. I should love NASA. But I keep asking myself, if Mike Griffin is so smart, how can he be so dumb? Under Bush and Griffin, NASA has abandoned useful climate and education programs. After a summer interning at Dryden, I figured they might as well remove the first A. They've even failed at their own stated goals. The Constellation program is just crap. I thought after the huge success of Hyper-X and Scaled Composite's successes with White Knight/Spaceship One, we'd head in that direction. But no, they decided try Apollo again. I guess this is kind of personal for me and I'm really saddened by NASA's disappointments.

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. I'm hoping to see someone else put in charge of NASA

Lying in bed, listening to Griffin's interview on NPR, I just about lost it.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10571499

NASA Chief Questions Urgency of Global Warming

Morning Edition, May 31, 2007

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It has been mentioned that NASA is not spending as much money as it could to study climate change — global warming — from space. Are you concerned about global warming?

I'm aware that global warming exists. I understand that the bulk of scientific evidence accumulated supports the claim that we've had about a one degree centigrade rise in temperature over the last century to within an accuracy of 20 percent. I'm also aware of recent findings that appear to have nailed down — pretty well nailed down the conclusion that much of that is manmade. Whether that is a longterm concern or not, I can't say.

Do you have any doubt that this is a problem that mankind has to wrestle with?

I have no doubt that … a trend of global warming exists. I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with. To assume that it is a problem is to assume that the state of Earth's climate today is the optimal climate, the best climate that we could have or ever have had and that we need to take steps to make sure that it doesn't change. First of all, I don't think it's within the power of human beings to assure that the climate does not change, as millions of years of history have shown. And second of all, I guess I would ask which human beings — where and when — are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that's a rather arrogant position for people to take.

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