Is Obama pro-science?
February 2nd, 2010
I’m starting to be getting a little skeptical.
First he nominates Francis Collins to the NIH and now he’s putting a halt to sending humans back to the moon?
I think someone needs to arrange a special screening of Carl Sagan’s The Cosmos at the Whitehouse.
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:30 am
I’m a self-admitted space-head. Love rockets, shuttles, space stations, moonwalks, etc. But I’m a pragmatist about it too. The space station was (and continues to be) an enormous drain on our space budget with very little in the way of payoff for the investment. If there’s any groundbreaking research coming from the space station, they’re keeping it well hidden. Compare that to the results of a robotic Mars mission, at a tiny percentage of the cost. Manned missions to the moon will be a similar drain on our space budget, squeezing out money that could be used to fund real science missions. If the Chinese and Indians want to land on the moon for national prestige, I say good for them. Don’t expect them to reap anything more from the endeavor. I’d much rather spend my science dollars on robotic missions, bigger supercolliders, etc.
As for Francis Collins, I give him the benefit of the doubt. He apparently managed the Human Genome Project without poisoning it with religious fundamentalism, and I have every reason to expect he can run the NIH in the same way.
February 2nd, 2010 at 4:46 pm
@Don
Where’s the fun in exploring if we’re stuck in a bunker on Earth? I’m all for robots but not venturing into space ourselves is a dull thought.