Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 01/30/2009 8:27:24 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Here's a troubling one from Taxpayer's For Common Sense:
Spending on the National Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite System, a program to generate weather and climate data, has doubled over the last 14 years to $12.5 billion -- even though none of the satellites have been launched.
The taxpayer group is highlighting the program as part of its oversight of the Obama administration's stimulus package. Here's what they had to say in a recent blog:
"Despite energetic lobbying by the defense industry (and some lawmakers) the $825 billion stimulus bill now emerging from committee markups seems free of handouts for Air Force jets and other military hardware. But DOD will benefit from hundreds of millions going to NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for a fancy satellite program called the National Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS).
"A tri-agency project that will circle the globe picking up weather and climate data, NPOESS was intended to save money by replacing two similar systems operated separately by the Air Force and NOAA. Unfortunately, construction and testing bungles slowed things down so that 14 years later, the cost of the...program has doubled from $6.5 to $12.5 billion for four instead of six satellites. And the first bird has yet to make its maiden voyage."
We're going to be hearing a lot about stimulus money. It's going to flow bigtime. If you hear it's not going to the right people, places or things, please let us know.
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
Tin foil hat on
The timing and expenses and nature of this program suggest a possible “black program” contingency effort (off the books)
Tin Foil hat off
IBD is excerpt only, and since ya can’t excerpt a cartoon, we have to pull Ramirez cartoons (durn shame).
The o said he would go through every bill line by line and veto anything that looked like pork
just like the ‘O’ he is, his words are empty
We all know this money is stolen money from the taxpayers intended to be paybacks for support.
This headline strikes me as exceedingly naive. If the writer at the post has even a faint glimmer of understanding of R&D, that person would know that it takes time to complete development before you launch, especially when you are dealing with new technology. The NPOESS is the next generation of low earth orbiting satellites for weather, science, and national security. If the cost has risen, perhaps it was because the original cost was underestimated. Of course there are no real journalists at the Washington Post; why would you expect such?
Has NASA become a job bank rather than a Space exploration division?
Remember that failed satellite the Navy blew up in orbit with an SM-3 missile? Do you remember China was pissed off that we could do that?
I'm not driving down the 405 for a job, love, or economic reasons.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.