Scientist Say NASA Cutting Missions To Mars

reply to post by eriktheawful

Not everything is a conspiracy, and not everyone is out to get you. If some of you feel that way, I would suggest taking a break from reading articles here on ATS, and also go see your doctor. You might need some medication.

I agree, not everything is a conspiracy.

But time and time again we see these missions get cut/canceled for no apparent reason other than, "not enough money."

Sorry but I don't buy that. It seems to me that there is an obvious agenda to keep the public at bay concerning space travel and the public domain.

It seems that our Air Force and Navy have absolutely no problem continuing their space missions. A year or so back we get a glimpse of some Air Force Space Plane that they were sending up.

Do you really think that was the first of its kind? I don't.

So, the public domain gets screwed out of funding and the Military Industrial Complex gets all the funding no problem and can continue there "space exploration" in complete secrecy.

....makes me sick.... and it's damn well justified to think they are hiding things when mission after mission is canceled.

Originally posted by Soapusmaximus
The US military machine needs all the money it can get for what is being prepared for

And anyway - NASA has always just been a public relations front, the real stuff goes through the Navy - And probably programmes we couldn't even imagine.

We know they have at least some alternate means of propulsion, I think somebody's already been to Mars

Correct.

The hidden, dark, and secret NASA, The Leviathan, is still in deep waters, but sooner it will emerge with all its power.

BTW: they are already up there to transact dark business.

reply to post by dplum517


The x-37B is a compromise arrived at through the many X-plane developments, as you can see at least 36 X-designs before. Back in the late 80's and early 90's the X-20 was supposed to be the new better version of a reusable landing strip takeoff and land trans-atmospheric successor to the Space Shuttle. Designs and tests and calculations proved that the atmospheric/space scramjet design was not going to provide the speed to reach orbit under the amount of fuel requirements it would have needed. The miniature prototypes leading up to and proceeding the X-20 fell far short of reaching what the developers said could be achieved, MACH 25. I believe that MACH 10 was the fastest one went in air breathing mode. It was determined MACH 25 couldn't feasibly be reached scaling up the crafts to hold the fuel requirements and the program was cut. People hear funding was cut and it was, because it wasn't going to happen. Enter the conventional vertical rocket launch X-series.

They are still trying however, Boeing has been testing X-50 concepts. But if you think they have the technology and are not using it tell Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, Lockeed Martin, and United Space Alliance because I'm sure they'd be all ears.

Originally posted by Kali74
Well, it's Fox News so I don't believe it 100%. Secondly the new Rover which is essentially a lab on wheels and makes the other Mars rovers look like Lego toys is already on it's way to Mars. I'm not sure at this point if there's a need to begin new programs for Mars with the already very effective ones we have going.

I'm not sure about moving space exploration to the private sector, I see the point made by Beezer but I have to wonder how we could verify or obtain any information once that happened. Also, it's not exactly a profitable venture. There's really only prestige to gain from it so, maybe NASA should open a grant receivership program, where people/companies could offer grants to any of the NASA research/exploration programs. Though that is worrisome in the, does that mean we'll see a Walmart flag on Mars kind of way.

I think you are underestimating the significance of killing these programs. They were scheduled for 2016 and 2018, and they are very important. The ExoMars rover was going to have some instruments to detect extraterrestrial life. How can any sensible person cut such an important project? Also, NASA made a commitment three years ago and ESA has already made a lot of progress developing ExoMars.

Here are a couple of quotes:

The ExoMars programme will demonstrate a number of essential flight and in-situ enabling technologies that are necessary for future exploration missions, such as an international Mars Sample Return mission. These include:

Entry, descent and landing (EDL) of a payload on the surface of Mars;
Surface mobility with a Rover;
Access to the subsurface to acquire samples; and
Sample acquisition, preparation, distribution and analysis.

At the same time a number of important scientific investigations will be carried out, for example:

Search for signs of past and present life on Mars;
Investigate how the water and geochemical environment varies
Investigate Martian atmospheric trace gases and their sources.

ExoMars

US President Barack Obama's budget proposal to be submitted next week for 2013 will cut NASA's budget by 20 percent and eliminate a major partnership with Europe on Mars exploration, scientists said Thursday.

The White House is proposing a $1.2 billion budget for the US space agency, down from $1.5 billion this year, according to Louis Friedman, a former NASA official and co-founder of the Planetary Society who was briefed on the matter.

"It's certainly dead," Friedman told AFP, referring to the ExoMars project which aimed to send an orbiter to the red planet in 2016 followed by a pair of rovers in 2018, ahead of a possible mission to return samples from Mars to Earth in the 2020s.

NASA budget will axe Mars deal with Europe