NASA is a funnel. Money goes in, money goes out. Do you think it really costs $1,000 for a space hammer?
Better than orbital surveyors?
We have military and spy sats that could read a stamp on a cracker from space, Hubble can see 12 billion light years away. We do not need this. Feed some poor people for the same cost.

Yeah... how about we turn some of that money inward, you know.. towards the ailing residents of planet earth, instead of hucking it into space.

When was the last time NASA did something really useful? I mean, literally worthy of praise for advancing science in a rewarding fashion. Not "prestige", I'm talking something worthy here, like a mission to determine how feasible it would be to colonize the moon, for instance.

Launching rockets into space is no longer useful. It's lost it's charm and reward. Oooh... Look at the multi-billion dollar project launch, how pretty. What is their mission? Oh, you know, just go into space and sit around and do basically nothing, then come back.. really rewarding. Oh no, the rocket exploded and everyone died....

The time has come to pool our money elsewhere until we're ready for Real space missions. NASA just isn't what it used to be.

[edit on 26-11-2009 by SyphonX]

Originally posted by Phage
...In five years, the two Mars Exploration Rovers have covered a combined distance of about 21 km...

This is a fact that few people realize.

Many people think the rovers can drive all over Mars...but actually, if the rovers were put in the middle of a small Earth city, the distance each has covered in over 5-1/2 years would barely put them on the outskirts of that same city.

It would take me less than 2 hours to walk the distance each rover has covered in over 5 years.


[edit on 11/27/2009 by Soylent Green Is People]

Sounds like a waste to me.

Robots are fine, but they are worth a lot more when there are humans nearby; they should supplement, not replace, human exploration.

For my money the best plan is to commercialize space by getting a real space station built for zero-g manufactures, tourism, and research. Use it to establish not a base but a city on the moon. The current best bet is using the recetnly discovered lava tubes as building sites.

Then on to Mars, with people, not just lame robots.