Mars Society President Dr. Robert Zubrin appeared on 'The Space Show', hosted by Dr. David Livingston, on February 21, 2012.
During the 2-hour interview, Dr. Zubrin discussed the U.S. government's recent decision to reduce NASA's operating budget and the impact that will likely have on Mars exploration.
In addition, Dr. Zubrin talked about the growing commercial space industry and his new book, "Merchants of Despair: Radical Environmentalists, Criminal Pseudo-Scientists, and the Fatal Cult of Antihumanism."
To listen to the interview with Dr. Zubrin, please click here.
posted Feb 22, 2012 5:36 PM by Michael Stoltz
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updated Feb 23, 2012 6:45 AM
]
The enclosed statement from the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American
Astronomical Society reinforces the Mars Society's view (one
that it has been stating publicly since October 2011) that any reduction in NASA's 2013 budget will place the future of a sustainable Mars exploration program at severe risk.
DPS Statement on FY 2013 NASA Budget, 2.20.12
The Golden Age of Planetary Exploration is in Grave Danger from Deep Cuts in the President’s Proposed Budget.
The
planetary exploration program has delivered a golden age of
robotic exploration of the Solar System that over the past decade that
has included a long series of stunningly successful missions. Among many
examples are the Mars rovers which have discovered that standing bodies
of water once existed on Mars, indicating past
habitable environments;
the Cassini mission to Saturn which discovered water erupting from
Saturn's moon Enceladus, imaged previously unseen structure in the
rings, and is mapping methane lakes and seas on Saturn's moon Titan;
MESSANGER which is now orbiting and mapping Mercury, revealing how
terrestrial planets evolve; Dawn, which is orbiting and mapping the
asteroid Vesta, revealing the earliest history of planet formation; and
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and GRAIL which are orbiting our Moon and
exploring deeply into its structure and origins. Other low-cost
missions have returned samples of a comet and the solar wind. These
missions have revolutionized our understanding of Earth, its origins,
and its place within the solar system and the larger universe. The
planetary science program complements and extends the discoveries and
breakthroughs in earth science, astrophysics, and heliophysics.
The Planetary Science community recently finished its Decadal Survey
under the auspices of the National Research Council of the National
Academies. Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade
2013-2022 recommends to NASA a program of balanced exploration and
scientific analysis, tempered by fiscal realism, which builds on the
immense progress of the last decade to continue expanding our
understanding of our solar system, and search for evidence of past or
even current life elsewhere in our solar system. The current golden age
of planetary exploration — the result of years of effort by scientists
and engineers supported at relatively low cost by a fascinated public
and bipartisan political support — is in grave danger from deep budget
cuts just as the next wave of discoveries beckons.
By Frank Morring Jr. & Amy Svitak, Aviation Week, 02.17.12
“Members
of the [U.S. space/science] community go to their congress people and say,
‘this doesn’t make any sense; why are we being punished when we were so
successful?’” says Scott Hubbard, who served as the agency’s first Mars
Program Director.
NASA faces a loss of confidence in its international
space-exploration leadership after the unilateral U.S. withdrawal from a
series of joint robotic missions to Mars with the European Space
Agency.
Instead of working with ESA’s ExoMars program on
sample-return precursor missions in 2016 and 2018, NASA’s Science
Mission Directorate (SMD) will join forces with the Human Exploration
and Operations (HEO) directorate and the Office of the Chief
Technologist to work up a medium-sized mission in 2018 that may meet the
needs of all three NASA units.
posted Feb 17, 2012 9:34 PM by Michael Stoltz
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updated Feb 17, 2012 9:34 PM
]
NASA’s
official announcement earlier this week regarding its 2013 operating budget
confirms what the Mars Society has been warning about since last October – that
the U.S. government has ceased to view the exploration of the planet Mars as a
priority, and that there is a complete lack of serious commitment for
international cooperation on space exploration.
If
the budget cuts proposed by the Obama administration are implemented, it will
not only destroy America’s Mars exploration program, but will also derail
that of our European friends. The ExoMars 2016 and 2018 missions have been planned as a joint NASA-ESA project, with the
Europeans contributing over $1 billion to the effort. However if the U.S.
betrays its commitment, European supporters of Mars exploration will be left
high and dry, and both the partnership and the missions will be lost.
“America’s
planetary exploration program, in particular that involving the Red Planet, is
one of the greatest chapters in the history of science, civilization and our
country.Its abandonment represents
nothing short of embracing America’s decline.This is unacceptable,” said Mars Society President Dr. Robert Zubrin.
The
U.S. space program is facing a very critical situation, one that threatens to
set back the exploration of the planet Mars, the key to humanity’s future in
space, for decades to come, if not longer.The Mars
Society is calling upon its members and friends to mobilize now in
order to save America’s Mars exploration program.
We
need everyone to reach out to individual members of the relevant House and Senate subcommittees
that oversee space exploration funding and demand that the resources for the
ExoMars 2016 and 2018 missions be reinstated in the NASA budget this year!
This
is a fight we can and must win!It’s
time to speak up!
In
addition, please consider joining the upcoming Space Exploration Alliance (SEA)
Legislative Blitz in Washington, D.C., a three-day campaign (Feb. 26-28) to let members of Congress know that there is
strong constituent support for an ambitious U.S. space program, including broad and sustainable exploration of the planet Mars.
posted Feb 17, 2012 2:26 PM by Michael Stoltz
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updated Feb 17, 2012 2:27 PM
]
By Mike Wall, Space.com, 02.17.12
As the 50th anniversary of his historic spaceflight approaches, former
NASA astronaut John Glenn is pushing for manned exploration of Mars and
other farflung destinations.
On Feb. 20, 1962, Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth
when his Friendship 7 capsule zipped around our planet three times,
then splashed down safely in the Atlantic Ocean. Glenn's flight put the
United States back on even footing with the Soviet Union, which had
launched the first manned orbital flight in April 1961.
The U.S.-Soviet space race
in the 1960s got much of the American public excited about space
science and exploration. That enthusiasm has since flagged, but sending
astronauts to the Red Planet could help rekindle it, Glenn said.
posted Feb 16, 2012 4:40 PM by Michael Stoltz
[
updated Feb 16, 2012 9:52 PM
]
Mars Society President Dr. Robert Zubrin will participate in a live interview on 'The Space Show', a bi-weekly radio talk show hosted by Dr. David Livingston.
In Dr. Zubrin's interview, scheduled for Tuesday, February 21st from 7:00-8:30 p.m. PST, he will discuss the current status of the U.S. space program and the challenges facing Mars exploration.
Please visit 'The Space Show' in order to listen to the interview live or to hear an archived podcast recording at a later time.
posted Feb 16, 2012 11:48 AM by Michael Stoltz
[
updated Feb 16, 2012 2:42 PM
]
Just 10 days left until the kick-off of the 2012 Space Exploration Alliance Legislative Blitz! Please consider joining us February 26-28 in Washington, D.C.!
The SEA blitz comes at a time when the U.S. space
program, in particular critical Mars exploration, is at a crossroads, both in terms of funding and direction. The
voices of America's space advocacy community must be heard now as perhaps
never before. SEA participants will call upon Congress to
ensure that our nation’s space program is a compelling national
priority.
Come join space advocates from around the country, including members of the Mars Society, to let
Congress know that there is strong constituent support for an ambitious
space program. You will find this experience to be exciting and
rewarding! We will provide an information/training session on Sunday,
February 26th, plus materials for meetings on Capitol Hill on Monday, February 27th and
Tuesday, February 28th.
To register for the SEA legislative blitz, please click here. If you have any questions about the campaign, please contact the Mars Society.
posted Feb 15, 2012 1:37 PM by Michael Stoltz
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updated Feb 15, 2012 6:16 PM
]
By Phil Plait, IO9.com, 02.15.12
Reducing NASA's
budget for Mars exploration frees up 0.01% of the federal budget. That's
it. One ten-thousandth of what we spend overall, a hundredth of a penny
for every dollar.
The White House released its Presidential budget request for fiscal year 2013 on Monday, including the budget for NASA,
and as usual there is some good news and some bad. But the good news is
tepid, and the bad news is, well, pretty damn bad. I can lay some of
this blame at NASA's feet - a long history of being over budget and
behind schedule looms large - but also at the President himself. Cutting
NASA's budget at all is, simply, dumb. I know we're in an
economic crisis (though there are indications it's getting better), but
there are hugely larger targets than NASA. If this budget goes through
Congress as is, it will mean the end of a lot of NASA projects and
future missions.
The Budget
The President's FY13 budget for NASA is $17.7 billion in total. This is marginally less than last year. In most
cases, the budget for science is stable, with a lot of missions getting
modest increases. After perusing the individual budgets, it looks to me
that most missions that are getting reductions are either ones that
have been up a while and are winding down, ones near launch that are
built and ready to go and therefore costs are smaller than during
development, or ones that have had launch delays (due to tech issues
with the launch systems).
Overall, astrophysics, Earth science, and Heliophysics (Sun studies)
did OK. Again, some individual missions got increases and some
decreases, but in general the budgets are stable. Funding for commercial
spaceflight got a massive increase, more than doubling last year's
$400M budget. I'm all for that, as of course is the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. I've been vocal about that, and I think handing off launch and other capabilities to commercial ventures is a good way for NASA to save money in the long run.
posted Feb 15, 2012 6:40 AM by Michael Stoltz
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updated Feb 15, 2012 11:43 AM
]
In its Internet edition today, National
Review Online carried a feature article by Mars Society President Dr.
Robert Zubrin calling for saving America’s Mars exploration program,
which was aborted in the Obama administration budget released on February 13, 2012.
An extensive discussion on the status of the Mars
exploration program and what needs to be done to save it will be held at the 15th
Annual International Mars Society Convention, which will take place in Pasadena,
California, August 3 - 5, 2012.Online
registration will be open soon on the organization's web site.