
Sequester Cancels NASA Outreach - alanmulhall
http://www.universetoday.com/100949/sequester-cancels-nasa-outreach/
======
adventured
The sequester is a big sick joke. A bunch of toddlers are throwing tantrums in
DC right now, trying to scare the public over big bad cuts.

The truth is, America has a priority problem. We have more than enough money
to spend. The toddlers in DC are used to getting their way and free spending
like crazy (thus the trillion dollar deficits). Now they're being forced to
make choices, and they're openly attempting to scare the public.

The best example of the sequester con is the White House tours. It's a big lie
that they can't keep it open, pure propaganda.

The things we're free spending money on right now are disgusting. We have
money to drone the planet and murder thousands of civilians, but not to hire
teachers and fix bridges. We can keep Guantanamo open and spend money
torturing people, but we can't keep our schools open. We can give the
theocrats in Egypt lots of money, but we can't keep a simple NASA outreach
program. We can spend a trillion dollars on the mostly pointless and highly
dysfunctional F35 that will barely ever see action, but we supposedly can't
keep the FAA operating at max capacity. Biden can spend a million dollars on
one night hotel stays in Paris and London, but the White House has to cancel
various Easter celebrations.

~~~
anigbrowl
I agree with you to a large extent, but you're doing the same thing by making
sweeping mischaracterizations.

For example, you mention 'Biden can spend a million dollars on one night hotel
stays in Paris and London.' I looked into this, and indeed two one-night stays
in each city totaled up to about that amount. But in each case, they booked
out over 100 rooms. Now the VP certainly has an entourage of secret service
agents and personal assistants, but the majority of those rooms were likely
occupied by policy administrators of one sort or another there to meet their
opposite numbers in Paris and London. This is why state visits are a big deal;
on TV we just see handshakes and maybe a snippet of a speech, but all sorts of
diplomatic work - trade negotiations, extradition discussions, etc. - takes
place out of sight of the cameras. State visits are planned months in advance
so that bureaucracies can coordinate the international dimension of their
activities around them. A million bucks is cheap at the price if it advances
economic progress.

Now you may not have noticed, but one of the more interesting things in the
state of the Union speech the President gave last month was a commitment to a
new US-EU Free Trade Agrreement, which would be the largest trade deal in
history: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21439945> which would be worth
hundreds of billions annually in increased economic activity. You bet I want
the VP to take a bunch of policy wonks along with him when he goes overseas.

I think the first step in getting beyond tantrum politics is to address things
on their merits and in their proper context, not in the form of zingers and
stereotypes.

~~~
spikels
From what I know about Biden it would probably be better if he did not make
these trips. He seems to be a very good politician but as I have learned more
and more about him I seriously doubt he has the ability to make sound
decisions. Not that he has a lot of competition in his profession.

How about we just send the experts next time.

~~~
spikels
Sorry I should have provided more background. Biden has been covered on HN
extensively. No intention make a political statement just pointing out Biden's
particularly poor decision making on issues I (we?) tend to care most about.

On privacy: [http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/12/joe-biden-private-
em...](http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/12/joe-biden-private-email/)

On IP: [http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110413/12094013882/joe-
bi...](http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110413/12094013882/joe-biden-theres-
no-reason-to-treat-intellectual-property-any-different-than-tangible-
property.shtml)

On major internet issues: [http://gizmodo.com/5041044/vp-candidate-biden-is-
no-friend-t...](http://gizmodo.com/5041044/vp-candidate-biden-is-no-friend-to-
file-sharing-net-neutrality-protection-or-online-privacy)
<http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10024163-38.html>

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jurassic
The sequester is serious business in science. A scientific workforce and the
equipment they need must be maintained; it's not easy to ramp up or down
capacity as demand and funding levels shift. The pipeline for an individual
into a high-level science career is measured in DECADES. If you screw with
funding levels for a few years you're blowing a gigantic hole into the side of
your already-leaky pipeline.

Science was a pretty lousy career choice before all this started, but these
budget shenanigans will only drive the smartest and most capable young people
out of science for better paid, less uncertain vocations.

~~~
toufka
Absolutely. As a grad student about to graduate from a prestegious biomedical
institution I'm looking at no new grants for the next (few?) years. The NIH is
likely zeroing any new grants in order to maintain current grants. Guess what
industry I cannot graduate into!

The upside I guess is that I will likely attempt to create my own company
instead. A far riskier proposition. But I'm on the far end of the spectrum -
few of my peers are doing that though - they're finding jobs in other
industries.

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zeteo
Meh. NASA outreach sucks in any case. They manage to make space look boring -
ever watched one of those conversations between middle schoolers and ISS crew?
Just get the kids a few sci-fi books instead, you'll get a much more
enthusiastic and motivated next generation of engineers.

~~~
ANH
Have you ever watched a rocket launch on NASA TV? For me, it doesn't get much
more thrilling than that. And I've seen some in person.

~~~
zeteo
So the coolest events on NASA TV are those in which the "outreach" people play
no role and just let the cameras speak for themselves. I agree.

~~~
ANH
I think you're being unfair. I don't know how large the crew is for those
events, but I'd venture to say all would call themselves "outreach people". I
take your point that a lot of what airs is not very good, but to throw all
outreach efforts under the bus is uncalled for.

Another outreach example that allows you to rove the same terrain as the Mars
Science Laboratory: <http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/explore/freedrive/> . I'd say
this is pretty damn cool, and actually informative.

The folks who do this work are rather nervous right now.

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gmu3
I think it is worth mentioning that in addition to the $900 million in cuts
required from the sequester since the sequester has gone into effect, Congress
has proposed cutting their funding an additional $300 million this year.
Therefore, pinning all this to the sequester seems a little unfair.
[http://www.app.com/article/20130321/NJNEWS17/303210108/Seque...](http://www.app.com/article/20130321/NJNEWS17/303210108/Sequester-
spending-bill-chop-NASA-funding)

Sadly I worry these cuts are more political than practical, but then again it
just says the programs are being suspended until they are reviewed so
hopefully they'll still come back and maybe some waste will be discovered in
the process too.

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velodrome
I like how the decision makers say we need to grow out of our debt problems.
Then they cut programs like this? Do they think we will actually grow with
cuts to STEM education? The advent of the internet, biotechnology, hell...even
proprietary trading. Almost all the recent growth cycles have been fueled by
STEM.

The decision makers are foolishly creating a massive technical debt.

------
Uhhrrr
From the article: the cuts are "hitting where it hurts: in education and
outreach". Is that really where it hurts for NASA? What about space
exploration and research? Aren't those a little more important?

~~~
nuclear_eclipse
Without education and outreach, perhaps there won't be enough talented and
engaged people to take part in designing, building, and operating the
equiptment for space exploration?

~~~
metric10
Sure. The NASA Outreach Program. Teaching our kids how to design, build, and
operate spaceships. Without it they're all going into liberal arts.

Sorry, but I have a feeling education and science will survive the
Sequestocalypse just fine. Although if we don't get the budget under control
today, our kids won't have the money for space exploration in the future.

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3dptz
Guess that clears enough budget to buy more F35's. Because what future needs
inspired engineers right?

~~~
mchusma
Don't forget about a replacement for the M4:
[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-19/army-carbine-
progra...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-19/army-carbine-program-may-
waste-1-8-billion-report-finds.html)

Obviously the F35 is more important though. Who honestly thinks the future of
air warfare will be with drones. </sarcasm>

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ericcumbee
Go to space, do cool things....outreach problem solved.

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niggler
Weren't people trying to choke NASA before the sequester? Is the effect of the
sequester more significant than previous efforts to slash NASA budget?

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anigbrowl
That's pretty depressing.

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kmfrk
Compromise: one-way missions to Mars for a select group of politicians.

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Apocryphon
Is it possible to create a Kickstarter for public sector services?

~~~
Empact
Yep, for a significant period of American History, a good bit of long-distance
travel was over privately constructed and managed turnpikes. Their financing
was very much in the Kickstarter model:

"American turnpikes were stock-financed corporations seemingly organized to
pay dividends, though acting within narrow limits determined by the charter.
[F]or the American turnpikes the hope of dividends was merely a faint hope,
and never a legal obligation. Odd as it sounds, the stock-financed "business"
corporation was better suited to operating the project as a civic enterprise,
paying out returns in use and esteem rather than cash."

<http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/Klein.Majewski.Turnpikes>

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riffic
I guess JPL isn't doing their open house this year =(

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aaronbrethorst
On a related note, air travel this summer is going to suck. More so than
usual: [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/us/politics/ohare-tower-
ma...](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/us/politics/ohare-tower-may-become-
sequester-victim.html?hp&_r=0)

