The Triangle

Issue date: 1/28/05 Section: Sci-Tech

Media Credit: The Triangle

The $3 billion Cassini-Huygens project and the $330 million Deep Impact mission both made headlines last week ("NASA initiatives, missions launched", The Triangle, Jan. 14, p??). Cassini-Huygens is an internationally funded project to explore Saturn and its moon Titan, while Deep Impact is a NASA mission trying to blow a hole into the Comet Tempel and study the debris that is scattered around. With countless dollars, time, and brainpower spent on space exploration one must ask, why? What is the goal? Aren't there better pursuits then finding out if there are trace amounts of water on the moon?

In the midst of the Cold War, the Russians jumped out ahead of America in terms of space exploration. Washington and President Eisenhower, trying to keep up with the Russians created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on October 1, 1958. Since then, NASA has run successful missions into the Earth's orbit, the moon, and other planets. In 2003, the Columbia disaster caused many to question the direction of the space program, and the reason for space exploration. What is the overall goal of the NASA program? How seriously is safety being taken?

To answer critics, President Bush renewed the United States' commitment to the space program, with goals of returning to the moon and one day exploring Mars. Starting this year, NASA hopes to get man back into space, for the first time after the Columbia disaster. Looking a bit further down the road, NASA and The White House will set its sights on finishing America's share of the International Space Station by 2010. Additionally, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, the shuttle that will be used to transport astronauts to the International Space Station, is targeted to be ready by 2014.

More ambitiously, NASA plans to start up lunar exploration by 2008. To lay the ground work, a lunar rover is proposed to explore future landing sites. Between 2015 and 2020, manned missions to the moon are to be expected. The idea is to gain experience in working outside the friendly confines of the planet Earth. The goal is, eventually, to use the moon as a launch pad for future missions to Mars and beyond.

Financially, this translates into about one percent of the total Federal budget. In 2004, the NASA's budget was $15.4 billion. It is expected to rise five percent for each of the next three years, leveling out to a one percent increase per year, for a few years after that.

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