Stunning Scientists, NASA’s Only Moon Rover Just Got Canceled

Megalith

Megalith

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NASA’s only moon rover, the Resource Prospector, has been canceled despite a recently signed directive encouraging a human return to the moon. The rover would have been responsible for finding hydrogen, oxygen, water, and other compounds that could support future astronauts.

The Resource Prospector was being developed as part of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. A prototype was field tested in 2015 and underwent vacuum and thermal testing the following year. But recently, Neal said, NASA moved to transfer the project to its Science Mission Directorate, which develops robotic missions for mainly research, rather than exploration, purposes.
 
Big_Rig_Stig said:
Well. Imagine that.

Might as well cede the moon to China and Russia, because we're too busy being MAGA.
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I say good. The United States needs a wake up call in regards to space exploration and unfortunately the politicians and the corporations they're subservient to only understand the bottom line, quarterly reports, and election cycles. But more importantly, it's to remind us that we're not really #1 anymore, and it's our collective hubris that will be our downfall.
 
Well, trump really wants that border wall. If he can't force a poor country like Mexico to pay for it, and can't get the money from the US's defense budget, well, some sacrifices will have to be made. What has space research really done for us, anyway?

To be honest, after the Southern Border Wall is completed I think we should build a Northern Wall, between the US and Canada.

It's 2018, and that's just the way it is.

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/s
 
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Wyodiver said:
Well, trump really wants that border wall. If he can't force a poor country like Mexico to pay for it, and get the money from the US's defense budget, well, some sacrifices will have to be made. What has space research really done for us, anyway?

It's 2018, and that's just the way it is.
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It's not just about exploring space but also new technology. Imagine being to mine on an asteroid and find new metals or even a much needed metal in abundance.
 
Did you really think 45 and 6k cared? SCIENCE!!!, sure as hell not in this administration, only god god Jesus Jesus that have to be put in public schools.
 
Big_Rig_Stig said:
Well. Imagine that.

Might as well cede the moon to China and Russia, because we're too busy being MAGA.
Click to expand...

The US is broke, we don't have the money for space exploration. Besides, where the US govt fails, private corporations will eventually pick up the slack. All those futuristic movies we saw where mega corporations run the space fleet are probably accurate.
 
You know what pisses me off? How much money and time we WASTE changing fucking priorities! I don't give a damn if we devote the entire space program to building a station on the Moon, to developing hotels in LEO, to going to Mars, or to mining asteroids, I DON'T CARE, just stop farting around wasting money, scientists and engineers by changing directions.

Caveat: I am not in favor of unmanned science missions at the expense of human exploration. I like the rovers, I like the flyby of Pluto, I like Hubble, but I see no point in exploring the solar system if humans are just going to sit on earth. I know human exploration is dangerous and expensive. It's also part of why we're human.
 
Well this thread went political fast.

As a US taxpayer am I allowed to ask for the potholes in my roads to be filled or am I supposed to just sit down and shut up and let TPTB play with their billion-dollar toys with taxpayer money?
 
Big_Rig_Stig said:
Well. Imagine that.

Might as well cede the moon to China and Russia, because we're too busy being MAGA.
Click to expand...

Reading is paramount. "Months after President Trump signed a directive ordering NASA to return astronauts to the moon, the space agency has canceled its only lunar rover currently in development".

-“The directive I am signing today will refocus America’s space program on human exploration and discovery,” said President Trump. “It marks a first step in returning American astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972, for long-term exploration and use. This time, we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprints -- we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars, and perhaps someday, to many worlds beyond.”

Can't blame Trump, he tried. Blame NASA, according to the article they canceled it. Apparently none of you read & inform yourselves, just point fingers.
 
Krenum said:
Reading is paramount. "Months after President Trump signed a directive ordering NASA to return astronauts to the moon, the space agency has canceled its only lunar rover currently in development".

-“The directive I am signing today will refocus America’s space program on human exploration and discovery,” said President Trump. “It marks a first step in returning American astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972, for long-term exploration and use. This time, we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprints -- we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars, and perhaps someday, to many worlds beyond.”

Can't blame Trump, he tried. Blame NASA, according to the article they canceled it. Apparently none of you read & inform yourselves, just point fingers.
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I I don't remember, how much funding was attached to that directive?
 
Wyodiver said:
Well, trump really wants that border wall. If he can't force a poor country like Mexico to pay for it, and can't get the money from the US's defense budget, well, some sacrifices will have to be made. What has space research really done for us, anyway?

To be honest, after the Southern Border Wall is completed I think we should build a Northern Wall, between the US and Canada.

It's 2018, and that's just the way it is.
Click to expand...
Both Canada and Mexico have already started on their walls to keep us out. I recommend you buy a ladder.
 
Krenum said:
"The budget request, which was released today (Feb. 12), allocates about $19.9 billion to NASA, an increase of $370 million over last year's request".
https://www.space.com/39671-trump-nasa-budget-2019-funds-moon-over-iss.html
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An extra 370M is a drop in a bucket. That what it will take just to discuss the plans and early R&D to land on the moon.
Trump still thinks that's all it will take in 2018 to get there? It's not 1968.


The budget also confirms the cancellation of five Earth-science missions proposed for termination last year. It provides no funding for the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite; the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) experiment; the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Pathfinder; the Radiation Budget Instrument (RBI); or Earth-viewing instruments aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/NASA spacecraft that launched in 2015.

NASA's Office of Education also gets the axe.

The budget request is just a proposal; it must still be approved by Congress. And there may be some changes coming, if the reaction of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., is any guide.

"The administration's budget for NASA is a nonstarter. If we're ever going to get to Mars with humans on board and return them safely, then we need a larger funding increase for NASA," Nelson said
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Hey! NASA is in the crapper but at least we have the iPhone X , yay! selfies! :sour:
 
Krenum said:
Yeah, don't forget the Democrats either, if it ain't welfare program, they're not interested.
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"“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." I think Democrats, Republicans and independents would all love to have a leader like this today. At least someone that can make us think for a least a time more than inch from our own concerns without wondering when the next insane thing is going to happen.
 
heatlesssun said:
"“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." I think Democrats, Republicans and independents would all love to have a leader like this today. At least someone that can make us think for a least a time more than inch from our own concerns without wondering when the next insane thing is going to happen.
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I wish we did too. I wish America could dream big again. Shameful that the powers that be killed him, him and his brother.

I never grew up in that time, but I have a poem that my mother wrote in elementary school during that time that asks questions about if we would make it to the moon and what it would be like. Its really cool, I read it from time to time and imagine what an amazing time it must have been to witness such things.
 
Krenum said:
I
I never grew up in that time, but I have a poem that my mother wrote in elementary school during that time that asks questions about if we would make it to the moon and what it would be like. Its really cool, I read it from time to time and imagine what an amazing time it must have been to witness such things.
Click to expand...

It's a story I grew up hearing a lot. I was not yet born, my older sister was just going on three months old, the long running and still on the air soap opera General Hospital had just recently aired and my mother saw the news on TV when they cut in on GH.

I get a lot of flack about talking about my parents around here but my father was born in 1923, my mother 1927. They loved to talk about things. So much history, so many things happened in their lives dating back to the Great Depression. As Spock would say, "Fascinating."
 
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Twisted Kidney said:
Political announcements of great ventures that fail to mention the funding for those ventures are just propaganda.
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Not exactly: .

We love to bash politicians and deservedly so but they understand money probably better than most, that's why they are politicians. The current POTUS has prided himself on his personal wealth and being able to provide riches for others which is key factor in his support.

Granted, how that's all supposed to work, who knows.
 
Ski said:
I say good. The United States needs a wake up call in regards to space exploration and unfortunately the politicians and the corporations they're subservient to only understand the bottom line, quarterly reports, and election cycles. But more importantly, it's to remind us that we're not really #1 anymore, and it's our collective hubris that will be our downfall.
Click to expand...
#ThisShitRightHere
 
5150Joker said:
The US is broke, we don't have the money for space exploration. Besides, where the US govt fails, private corporations will eventually pick up the slack. All those futuristic movies we saw where mega corporations run the space fleet are probably accurate.
Click to expand...
We're only broke because politicians and their pimps the corporations are raping us one dollar at a time, without lube.

The only reason SpaceX is doing what it does is Elon Musk is smart enough to understand the real reason for space exploration. Corporations don't give a fuck about anything but their bottom line and bonuses; and space just doesn't have high enough margins to bother with. This is why China and Russia will beat us like a bitch, and we'll roll over and whine while pissing ourselves like a beaten dog.
 
seanreisk said:
You know what pisses me off? How much money and time we WASTE changing fucking priorities! I don't give a damn if we devote the entire space program to building a station on the Moon, to developing hotels in LEO, to going to Mars, or to mining asteroids, I DON'T CARE, just stop farting around wasting money, scientists and engineers by changing directions.

Caveat: I am not in favor of unmanned science missions at the expense of human exploration. I like the rovers, I like the flyby of Pluto, I like Hubble, but I see no point in exploring the solar system if humans are just going to sit on earth. I know human exploration is dangerous and expensive. It's also part of why we're human.
Click to expand...
Danger isn't the problem: it's the expense, and politicians are too busy giving welfare to the corporations and the rich, and getting paid in return to do so.
 
jwcalla said:
Well this thread went political fast.

As a US taxpayer am I allowed to ask for the potholes in my roads to be filled or am I supposed to just sit down and shut up and let TPTB play with their billion-dollar toys with taxpayer money?
Click to expand...
Ask your representative and senators, and see what mealy-mouthed bullshit they try to feed you.
 
Krenum said:
Reading is paramount. "Months after President Trump signed a directive ordering NASA to return astronauts to the moon, the space agency has canceled its only lunar rover currently in development".

-“The directive I am signing today will refocus America’s space program on human exploration and discovery,” said President Trump. “It marks a first step in returning American astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972, for long-term exploration and use. This time, we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprints -- we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars, and perhaps someday, to many worlds beyond.”

Can't blame Trump, he tried. Blame NASA, according to the article they canceled it. Apparently none of you read & inform yourselves, just point fingers.
Click to expand...
Like hell he tried. He signed a letter saying essentially "please send people to the moon", then signed a tax deal that took all that money for "exploration" and sent it out in corporate, 1%er, and personal tax welfare. He's spending more money on his fucking golf weekends (130 at last count) than the moon rover cost by itself.

So, yes: I blame him and his lies. Along with the entire RepubliWhore party and their taxpayer embezzlement schemes.
 
heatlesssun said:
It's a story I grew up hearing a lot. I was not yet born, my older sister was just going on three months old, the long running and still on the air soap opera General Hospital had just recently aired and my mother saw the news on TV when they cut in on GH.

I get a lot of flack about talking about my parents around here but my father was born in 1923, my mother 1927. They loved to talk about things. So much history, so many things happened in their lives dating back to the Great Depression. As Spock would say, "Fascinating."
Click to expand...
Yeah, they'll get over it. My dad was born in 1920, my mom 1918, my grandparents around 1898, so I had loads of old people telling me stories.

One that sticks with me isn't from them, tho: it was my 5th grade history teacher, who was born in Dallas, grew up in San Antonio, and caught loads of shit as being the "killer" of JFK (just because he was born there).

Yet another reason I think humanity is doomed.
 
Hagrid said:
It's not just about exploring space but also new technology. Imagine being to mine on an asteroid and find new metals or even a much needed metal in abundance.
Click to expand...

When it gets to that point we can just send en Affleck.
 
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