With all the talk of financial bailouts in these, shall we say, fiscally distressed times, I can’t be the only one wondering how NASA will fare in the new administration.
When I saw the photo of the lunar rover rolling past the Presidential bandstand in the inaugural parade, I couldn’t help but wonder if the driver was sitting there with his fingers crossed, fervently mumbling, “Oh, please please please keep those NASA greenbacks flowing, Mr. President.”
It seems unlikely President Obama will pull the plug on the Constellation Program, which is now designing and building the post-space shuttle generation of launch vehicles. Being able to send our own people into space without hitchhiking rides with the Russians seems essential.
But what about the plan — former President Bush’s plan — to return to the Moon by 2020? We’re talking some serious money, here — counted in increments of hundreds of billions.
I personally wouldn’t even venture a guess. But going to the Moon could prove an easy target in a time when millions of jobs are evaporating before our collective eyes.
Not to be a pessimist, but consider what it could mean that Obama’s science advisor is John P. Holdren, a professor of environmental policy at Harvard. He might perhaps think that climate change research and mitigation — not putting more American boots on the lunar maria — should be the priority.
Of course, budgets aren't as simple as robbing from NASA Peter to pay environmental Paul. NASA gets a single pot of money, and from that must come the money for human spaceflight as well as climate-change research, not to mention flinging rovers and orbiters at the planets.