Shuttle tragedy prompts new look at NASA budget

I have seen no-one mention the benefit of using our Shuttle fleet to place satellites in orbit and maintain them. These satellites have caused great advancements in communications and military power.

In future years, low orbit vehicles will be needed to remove old equipment from orbit and replace them with new ones.

I think we should be looking at using the remaining three shuttles for the next 10 years and should accelerate the creation of a newer, safer, low orbit vehicle. What a great project to set our best minds working on, and what a great jobs program!!

using our Shuttle fleet to place satellites in orbit and maintain them

As far as satellite maintenance is concerned, that is a task well-suited to the Space Station. You might even want 2 or three space stations. A low orbit inclination station, a high orbit inclination station and a high altitude station.

I was reading about Enterprise, the flight test bird at the Smithsonian and remember that Challenger started out life as a test bird and was refitted for orbit.

The link on Challenger tells all about it. They say it would be too expensive to tool up for making a new shuttle. Why not do a rebuild on Enterprise? Is that too easy an option, or what?

private enterprise is going jump into space exploration

It will, it could have already, but it hasn't. There is something wrong, I believe. What is keeping private enterprise out of space, out of investing in celestial resources?

I don't think it is the cost of launches. It certainly isn't a lack of adventurers. It is a lack of enterprise investment capital.

And why is that? Why are private financiers not investing in space development? I'll tell you.

There are no private property rights in outer space. There is no way to register a claim to celestial resources. That's what is wrong. Open a celestial resources claims office, a Land Office, and stand back or be trampled.

What is in the way of opening such a Land Office? Once more, it is the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty. Dump it, withdraw from it, assert national sovereignty and honor private claims to celestial resources.

"Your viewpoint is valid only for the stunted runt of a space program that currently exists. A computer is a tool in the hands of a man. It can never replace experience."

But man programs that computer with his knowledge. Man sits at the console on earth smaking observations and sending instructions.

You probably don't think much of ICBMs, and unpiloted drones being used in modern warfare.

"Let's put it this way. Imagine driving a car on a clear, sunny day. You could probably program a computer to do this fairly well. Now think about doing it at night in a pouring rainstorm. How about during fog? In the snow? Making a split second judgement between hitting a kid on a bike and a parked car?"

When computers (not men) are adequately advanced, this technology may be affordable (note how well it already works on passenger airplanes!) If NASA were investing its billions on expert systems, pattern recognition, and the other automation technologies needed to achieve this in space, we might end up saving many of the 40,000 American lives lost per year on the roads. Instead, NASA invests on learning how zero-g affects humans, so that we can send humans to learn how zero-g affects humans.

Also, if we have a "stunted runt" of a space program, it is because the shuttle nudged all the other unweaned members of the little away from the taxpayer teat. And if you think we are stunted at current budgets, how much more of my earnings do you need to have a proper program to stimulate your imagination?

"If it was that easy to get a computer to replace a man, none of us would be allowed to drive our own cars."

If NASA weren't wasting its budget on the shuttle, we might already enjoy this benefit.

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