 |
||
| · join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe · | ||
| Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar · | ||
Posted on 10/20/2009 12:55:11 AM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The nation that made it to the Moon in 12 years now struggles to build a satellite in that time and is at risk of losing its preeminence in space.
Those words come from one of the top four space intelligence lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, chairman of the House Select technical and tactical intelligence subcommittee, who spoke before an audience of some 1,200 intelligence practitioners and industry at the Geoint annual conference in San Antonio, Texas.
Ruppersburger noted that 20 years ago the U.S. had 70 percent of the commercial satellite market which is now down to 27 percent. The country faces serious risks to its launch industry, he said, noting that France continues to build new launchers and improve its technologies.
“Their companies are getting stronger and ours are getting weaker,” he said.
It isn’t just commercial communications satellites and space exploration where the US is fading. A string of enormous and nearly complete failures in developing intelligence satellites has left the administration and Congress exceedingly wary of funding new programs, such as the new spy satellite program approved in April by President Obama. “We can’t afford any more failures,” he said.
The Pentagon has gotten the message. “We are going to have to stop having faith-based acquisition,” said Gil Klinger, director of space and intelligence capabilities for OSD’s acquisition and technology shop. “The Air Force and the NRO, given an enlightened opportunity, will dig us out of this hole.”
To address those fundamental issues, Ruppersberger convened a series of informal hearings to probe into just what went wrong and how to fix it.
He said there were several broad areas that needed fixing.
(Excerpt) Read more at dodbuzz.com ...
Am I the only person ashamed of what this nation has become?
Thank God President Reagan didn’t live to see this.
We have pissed it all away in less than twenty years.
I am with you
Thanks bud.
America lost its vision about the time we elected Klintoon. It will take something horrific and world altering such as a VERY MAJOR war to wake up the American People again.
The death of testosterone and drive. It started in the schools with the oppression of boys and the empowerment of girls. Yes, Apollo 13 was a failed mission, but if you watch the movie, take note of the drive, passion and innovation of the men on the ground as well as the astronauts. Couple the demasculinization of men with the many federal regulations governing workplace behavior aimed at paralyzing men... Let’s just say it’s no wonder we can’t do ANYTHING anymore.
There is no greater threat to this nation’s security future than the loss of space leadership. We would be far better off to reject the neocon vision of bases and “nation-building” all over the world, and focus on military and civilian leadership in space.
Something tells me Hupperberger has some aerospace contractors in his district.
Got his name wrong, but a quick search confirmed my suspicion:
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?CID=N00025482
His top donors are all aerospace contractors. Your Congress, America. Owned by the special interests.
“... to wake up the American People again.”
Problem is, it’s becoming more difficult to know just who the ‘American People’ actually are. We have had major demographic shifts, in large measure thanks to the democrats, and we have ceased to be a melting pot. We are more like a cauldron, with lots of different ingredients that just don’t seem to be mixing very well. I’m not talking about race etc.. I don’t care what someone looks like, or where they come from. It’s about the desire to assimilate and become ‘American’. There doesn’t seem to be a national identity anymore.
It’s difficult to lead a race when you have no money...
20 years ago the U.S. had 70 percent of the commercial satellite market which is now down to 27 percent
/////////////////////
Back then we were stabbing Communism to death
Today we have a Communist stabbing US to death
The death of testosterone and drive. It started in the schools with the oppression of boys and the empowerment of girls. Yes, Apollo 13 was a failed mission, but if you watch the movie, take note of the drive, passion and innovation of the men on the ground as well as the astronauts. Couple the demasculinization of men with the many federal regulations governing workplace behavior aimed at paralyzing men...
/////////////////////
XACTLY
Look at our Prez, cocaine freak, closet homosexual, moslem foreign born who gets beat by his wife
When we stopped sending men to the moon we stopped finding inteligent life.
Want to find intelligent life on Mars, put Men on Mars.
We have come to have no common language, no
ideology common to us all, no pride as members
of a democratic federal republic, our polis
has been slowly weaned away from these things
in our younger generations. We have been taught
to “Celebrate diversity” to the extent that we
no longer pay a debt of gratitude to that which
tied us together for so long.
-snip-
He said there were several broad areas that needed fixing.
Top of the list is arms export reform. The so-called ITAR laws and regulations that govern what American companies can sell to foreign countries have crippled the US industry.
“Over time the policies meant to protect us are having the opposite effect,” the lawmaker said.
Didn't Clinton do this back when we had 70 percent of the market?
I agree. There seems to be a dearth of national pride.
“The nation that made it to the Moon in 12 years now struggles to build a satellite in that time and is at risk of losing its preeminence in space.”
After the Space Shuttle retires, we’ll be hitching rides to the International Space Station with the Russians.
We as a nation don’t do things very well anymore...
We live in a country that:
1. No longer salutes the flag at school
2. Won’t secure its borders
3. Forcibly de-emphasizes the strength of the traditional family
4. Elects “leaders” who won’t trumpet the greatness of America but are very quick to condemn it on the world stage
5. Has Maoists, closet pedophiles and muslims in its government
6. Lets unrestrained immigration permanently alter its demographic composition to the point of threatening its very existence
7. Is comprised of far too many people who would rather vote to grab goodies for themselves rather than do what’s needed to strengthen the country.
So, what do we expect?
We’ve died from a thousand cuts. All our resources are now consumed by those who want to regulate everything, sue over any offence and those who want their free stuff at someone elses expense.
N.A.S.A. has become little more than another very big govt. agency. Too big and entrenched to do any on the edge exploration.
Afraid to take ANY chances.
Yesterday, I went to a Great Cuts (girlie barbers) in my area. The ‘technician’ was a 20-something, daughter-aged young lady. From the time that she asked for my last name to almost the time that I walked out the door, she seemed to be speaking to me from a strange kind of age-reversal perspective with me being the little brother and she as the wise old bird and “sexpert”. I had to laugh because it was all normalized once she realized how well I had tipped her. At first, I was the little brother but then suddenly I’m ‘Daddy’. As for the haircut, I give her an 8 out of a possible 10.
So you’re insinuating saying his problem is the “military / industrial complex”??
What exactly is your point?
US technological and defense companies, which create some of the best jobs anywhere = and keep us safe.
Are bad?
My father once said “Attitude is everything”. Perhaps he wasn’t strictly correct, but I think there’s truth in there. Many of this thread’s comments cut to the chase.
I’ve said before that “political correctness” is at the root of this. If we are persuaded not to respect ourselves, not to honor our achievements, the goal of ensuring we fail is much easier to reach. Most people are joiners....they will emulate the prevailing attitude, as to not look out of place.
/sarc.
Yep...here’s a little ditty I wrote for Algore last Feb 14...
Global Warming is red
Planet Earth is blue
Please pardon the carbon footprint
Of my New Michigan igloo
Actually, under the current administration, this nation now struggles to do pretty much of anything.
Oh - except waste un-effing-believable amounts of money by pouring it down various government crap holes; at that, Obama has been an enormous success.
As if there is truly no success like failure...
“America lost its vision about the time we elected Klintoon”
No, America began losing its vision in 1988 with a president who didn’t understand “the vision thing.”
That same (now former) president recently dishonored Texas A&M University by inviting the Stalinist-in-chief to speak here.
- JP
Women can (and do) make very important contributions to the workplace and it is arguable that the world has been poorer for not taking feminine “takes” on things in the past.
But having said that, it is certainly true that women are much much less likely to take risks than men, and theres no gain without risk.
“America lost its vision about the time we elected Klintoon.”
We lost our vision with regards to space the second we went with the space shuttle, and focused on the “international” space station.
As for satellite launches, we are just too expensive. If we were cheaper, then folks would launch in the US. Russians, using decades-old designs that are evolved and reliable, and the French with subsidies can launch far cheaper than NASA because NASA has a bloated, useless bureaucracy, which is the real reason why we can’t, even if they had a blank check, get to the moon ever again.
“U.S. Losing Space Race”
The U.S. has been losing just about everything since Barack Hussein Obama took over the Presidency illegitimately.
Were going to have to ride Russian and Chinese rockets to get to the ISS starting next year.
Uhhh, the Space Race is over, we won it in 1969. You might have heard about it, it was in all the papers.
And it’s the death of American competence, too. We’ve become a nation of incompetent idiots. Go drive somewhere in your town; chances are you will see 10 overt acts of idiocy within five miles of your home. Go look at clueless shoppers at Meijer or Wal Mart. People today just DON’T THINK.
Once upon a time, Americans were known for their ability to innovate, organize and implement, in virtually every endeavor known to man. Today, not so much at all. And those areas we still do things well, we are busy pissing away.
And it has a lot to do with the demasculinization of men, as you pointed out. Now a man who wants to be a man is branded a criminal, and only ignorant criminals are acting as “manly.” There aren’t enough real men left in the generation under 40 years of age. Do you really think America could fight and win another World War? Nope, I don’t.
THAT IS ART!
Thanks. Good point...
We shouldn’t follow policies based on whether they “create jobs,” actually government-created jobs are job destroyers on net, as the resources it takes to create them must be taken from the more productive private sector. Basic econ 101, I suggest you read Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt, Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell, or Economics for Dummies by....I forget his name.
And yes, I do think the military-industrial sector is bloated and has too much sway in Washington. That hardly makes me a terrorist-loving America-hating commie who doesn’t care about national security.
Conservatives would complain about any other instances of fraud, abuse, or overspending when it comes to any other area of government or government subcontractors. Yet when it comes to defense spending, it’s never too much? We have to buy every product the defense contractors can come up with? Sorry, but I think we should be way more careful with our defense than this. I think all this waste makes defense more expensive than it really ought to be, which *hurts* our country and our safety.
And manned space flight is a tremendous waste of tax-payer money. Unmanned space flight accomplishes way more for way less. Space ought to be freed up so private enterprises can get more involved. When the technology is there, with a better, more economical means of supporting human life in space as well as less costly means of getting into space (using rockets to get us up there is a huge, huge, HUGE cost), then manned space flight will make more sense.
Like Publisher's Clearinghouse says: "You can't win if you don't enter!"
Ought is the right word. Until the US cancels/withdraws from the UN Space Treaty any private space enterprise is limited to LEO and that only on government approval.
Don't expect any major US space activity, beyond robotic missions planned under previous administrations. Hussein has better things to do, and places to spend our “scarce” dollars.
...”And manned space flight is a tremendous waste of tax-payer money.”...
We don’t need another hero? I think we do...a crew or maybe even a family.
...”And manned space flight is a tremendous waste of tax-payer money.”...
We don’t need another hero? I think we do...a crew or maybe even a family.
Sorry, make that a nuclear family.
This will mean that the Russians will have a monopoly in space.
|
||
| · join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe · | ||
| Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar · | ||
Seems like the Americans are just like the Spaniards in trying to maintain their “New World” empire.
Yeah, look what happened to the Armada.
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.