Once again NASA will waste a fortune on a moon trip. Artemis I unmanned this time, manned next trip and beyond. NASA says a moon platform will teach us how to stay alive longer and go farther, specifically to Mars. Nonsense. All Artemis will do is protect the budgets of old NASA codgers and large contractors. We last put a human on the moon in 1972 50 years ago. No country has bothered since.

We must face today’s real problems and apply science, engineering, education, and yes NASA technology, to stop global warming. We must not go off exploring moon and Mars while earth fries. NASA’s Inspector General reports $40 billion has already been spent on Artemis which is overall “projected to spend $93 billion on the Artemis effort” through 2025. Countless billions more later.

The preponderant value we have obtained from NASA has come from unmanned scientific, weather, telephone, and spy satellites. Imagine how much more scientific instrumentation could be aboard a moon or Mars trip if humans, their life support systems and return trip fuel were absent. The macho males of NASA cannot bear the thought an instrument can cheaply outdo a man. They are playing for wider public support by predicting women and minorities crewing future missions.

Astronauts on the moon trip and much later Mars flights will be confined for months in a tiny space capsule with little to do. They will pass the hours repeating the daily talks we’ve heard so may times before and telling school children about the wonders of space. They will conduct experiments on a few milligrams of chemicals and claim these can only be made in weightlessness. No agency is more adept at preserving a wasteful budget while ignoring less sexy science. Science that might save us on earth.

 

Phillip Davis

West Gardiner

Copy the Story Link

« Previous

AG Frey’s wrongheaded claims on Dechaine case

Next »

Duly-constituted jury found Dechaine guilty