the Bad Astronomer endorses a vet for Colorado's 5th District

"Bad Astronomer" Phil Plait, on his web page, endorses U.S. Air Force Lt. Colonel Hal Bidlack for Colorado's 5th Congressional District race. Bidlack is running as a Democrat. I couldn't really glean what his positions are. I wasn't too enthused that Lamborn won the Republican primary in '06, but I'd have to hear more about what Bidlack's position on issues are before saying anything too definitive about him. What is really disturbing though is that if you go to the comments page on Plait's endorsement piece. Plait gets a lot of lefties on his page and so you have yabos there posting things like "I’m sorry, but I feel compelled to point out that part of our problem as a species is that we still revere images of people in military uniform in front of a billowing flag." What a dope. Part of our problem as a country is that we have people who don't believe anymore in the things that made America great.

Interview with new NASA associate administrator for science Ed Weiler

There's an interview here at space.com with new associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Ed Weiler. He hasn't thought out all of his positions yet, but it does sound like he is going to take another look at the Mars Sample Return initiative. That program would chew up sooo much money. I think we could accomplish a lot more by sending a bunch of Mars Exploration Rover (MER) class rovers to different parts of the planet and get sooo much more science for less money.

Reprieve for Spirit and Opportunity

Apparently the cuts directed toward the rovers Spirit and Opportunity and also (I think) for the Mars Odyssey orbiter have been rescinded. This L.A. Times article says that the cuts were not cleared by NASA Administrator Mike Griffin. The article contains a few factual errors. For instance it states that Griffin tried to stop the Space Shuttle Hubble servicing mission when in fact that was the previous administrator Sean O'Keefe. Griffin came in from day 1 saying he wanted the Hubble mission to go forward.

In other NASA news I've heard that Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, Alan Stern has resigned. I have yet to see independent confirmation of that though.

Good news though that those cuts have been rescinded!

Planetary Society testimony to Congress on 2009 NASA budget

Good commentary here in a statement to Congress by the Planetary Society on the proposed 2009 NASA budget. They point out that the new budget essentially guts the Mars exploration program. The statement is also a good summary of why Mars should be the primary focus of our planetary exploration program.

The biggest threat yet to Spirit and Opportunity

The two Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars three weeks apart in January 2004. They were designed for a nominal 90 martian day (or sol, to distinguish them from Earth days, a martian day is called a sol) mission. Over the weekend, the Spirit rover passed 1500 sols. Over the course of their missions, Spirit and Opportunity have survived software glitches, getting caught in sand drifts, two martian winters, and a global dust storm that nearly cut off all their solar energy. The biggest threat yet though comes from the government agency that built and launched the rovers. Where NASA once had a solid commitment to Mars exploration, Mars gets short shrift in the latest budget. Those dollars that are being allocated to Mars exploration are largely going to support the next Mars rover, the Mars Science Lab (MSL). MSL has gone over budget and to support that mission, in NASA's zero sum budget game, dollars are being diverted from the operational budgets of existing missions- the orbiting Mars Odyssey and the rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Recently, NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) has been informed that $4 million will be taken out of the operating budgets of both Mars Odyssey and the rovers (story here). This would essentially cripple both missions and could lead to one of the rovers being turned off. This would be incredibly pennywise and pound foolish. These spacecraft are all still operating and providing excellent scientific returns. Just in the past year, the Spirit rover uncovered a patch of silica-rich soil which was certainly concentrated through the action of water- possibly in hot spring similar to those in action at Yellowstone. The fact is though that the origin of those silica rich soils is still a mystery. Further exploration of the broader area surrounding where they were discovered could uncover further clues to the early history of Mars. That chance might not come though if these NASA-ordered budget cuts come to pass. Write your members of Congress- ask them to restore operational funding for the Mars Exploration Rovers and Mars Odyssey- don't let these valuable assets be wasted.

Rating Arthur C. Clarke's predictions

Nice piece here on some of Arthur C. Clarke's predictions. He really was a visionary who will be sorely missed.

Mark Steyn on Obama and the Rev. Wright

Once again, Mark Steyn hits the nail on the head and does so wittily in describing Obama's response to the Rev. Wright controversy. Just about the best line, in my opinion, is:

"You can understand why Obama is so anxious to meet with President Ahmadinejad, a man who denies the last Holocaust even as he plans the next one. Such a summit would be easy listening after the more robust sermons of Jeremiah Wright."

RIP Arthur C. Clarke

I just read that Arthur C. Clarke has passed away. He was one of the first science fiction authors that I got into in a big way. Of course, I loved "2001: A Space Odyssey" and I vividly remember reading the serialization of "Rendezvous with Rama" in the now defunct science fiction magazine "Galaxy". When I was an undergrad I was involved with Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (which is apparently still around as evidenced by the link!) and got to meet Mr. Clarke and get him to sign my copy of "2010". It is sad to hear about the giants of science fiction going away.

NASA Administrator Mike Griffin speaks at Lunar & Planetary Science Conference

I am down south of Houston this week at the Lunar & Planetary Science Conference. On Monday night, NASA administrator Mike Griffin spoke. The ballroom where he spoke was packed beyond standing room only, it was really crowded. He had about a 15 minute speech and took about 45 minutes of questions. Among the things that he said in his prepared speech that caught my attention, he said that the opening statement of "Star Trek" ("to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before!") is a better mission statement for NASA than its actual one. He cited a surprising statistic: that approximately 50% (50%!!!) of the people in a poll thought that NASA consumed 24% of the U.S. budget! Can you believe it? (the actual amount is less than 1%). There were several questions related to the drop in funding in the Mars exploration program after MSL is launched. I am biased on this and believe that no matter how you slice it, Mars is getting the shaft at the expense of outer planets and the Moon. Griffin tried to explain it away by saying that budgets go up and down based on which program is getting a flagship mission. He said there were "no entitlements at NASA". Oh yeah? What about the engineers who have to come up with a new design for every mission when tried and true designs (such as the MER rovers) get relegated to the scrap heap. Anyway... there was also a question about NASA support of a COTS style program for lunar robotic spacecraft. He said that if COTS is successful, then there might be a COTS style program for planetary programs. I think that would definitely be the way to go. He had a great line in response to a question about whether he's gotten any insights from politicians with respect to NASA's education program, he said "I don't get many insights from politicians." I loudly applauded that line. Since most of the people in the room are big libs there were a few questions about international participation and "why can't we leverage other nations resources for our programs?". The response being that other nations don't want us to leverage their resources, the U.S. has to lead, not be a follower.

I think Griffin did a good job in front of a semi-hostile audience. He did point out several times that under Bush NASA has had stable funding with moderate growth and no real cuts, where under Clinton it did have real cuts. Again, that is something most of the people in that room would like to ignore.

Fred Barnes on McCains VP pick

Fred Barnes runs down the list of possible VP picks for John McCain and comes up with Mitt Romney as being the best pick. I would be very happy with Romney as the VP pick. They'd just have to win then...

forget Godzilla, watch out for Hillary!

This is great. Someone in the Obama campaign called Hillary "a monster". These guys are just realizing this now?

Landslide in motion imaged on Mars!

This is really amazing. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) imaged a landslide in action (dust in the air and everything) on the north polar scarp of Mars (the north polar cap rises in elevation above the surrounding plains). Very, very impressive!

Obama shows what an ignoramus he is on Space policy

Good grief! Check out this post from spacepolitics.com... Obama extemporizes on space policy and demonstrates that he is a complete ignoramus on the issue... pretty telling about his grasp on more than just space policy I'd say.

the liberal corruption of superheroes

There's a column in today's Sunday Denver Post by David Harsanyi entitled "Where have all the superheroes gone?" It's a good column. Harsanyi points out how in the 1940s comic superheroes supported the war effort and were all about beating the Axis powers and in the 1980s movie heroes such as Rambo were all about beating the bad guys. In today's comics, Marvel (may they be forever cursed) have killed off Captain America for pete's sake. Harsanyi views this as reflecting the moral ambiguity in modern society. I have a different take on it, I see it as the comic industry being taken over by liberals. I mean there's a storyline currently running in DC's Justice League of America about the government sending supervillains to some kind of prison planet (not following due process) and other supervillains seeking sanctuary from the JLA. This is obviously a thinly veiled commentary on Guantanamo Bay. There are lots more examples such as this. I think getting some idealogical balance in the media should extend to the comics industry!