ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
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Or is the real reason because GB is looking for the next place to
democratize???  (I think I hear Joe McCarthy in the background...)
Beryl

>ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
>Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
>*****************************************************************************
>
>Did you hear George W. wants to build a restaraunt On Mars?
>...He said the food would be good but he's worried about the atmosphere.
>
>
>Jonah Cohen wrote:
>
>>ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
>>Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
>>institutions.
>>*****************************************************************************
>>
>>Someone here is horrendously misinformed. It's either me, or the
>>President of the United States. I would not mind at all if someone
>>pointed out why it is, indeed, me, but here's my beef:
>>
>>I dig space exploration as much as the next guy, but it seems to me that
>>Bush's new space initiative (establishing an ISS-style base on the moon
>>by 2015, then using that as a jumping off point for manned missions to
>>Mars) is just outright nuts. Has he been watching too much Star Trek?
>>
>>I mean, we have a difficult enough time maintaining the ISS. And it's
>>scientific benefits are debatable (Time Magazine lavbeled it "space
>>pork"; see also Bob Park's excellent book "Voodoo Science"). And when you
>>compare it's cost/benefit ratio to unmanned exploration, like Hubble or
>>the Spirit rover now cruising around Mars, it seems especially dubious.
>>So imagine how much more difficult it would be to construct and maintain
>>and operate and if need be evacuate such a station that's 160,000 (am I
>>right?) miles away, not just 125. I've seen the Apollo crafts at the
>>Smithsonian, and they don't look like they carry lots of cargo.
>>
>>Bush also thinks the manned missions to Mars could be launched from the
>>moon. I'm no rocket scientist, but I do know that launching a human into
>>space in any way (never mind 140,000,000 miles to Mars - and that's just
>>1 way!) requires lots and lots of people, lots of safety checks and lots
>>of fancy equipment. How are you going to manage to construct and operate
>>Cape Canaveral 2 on THE MOON?
>>
>>And aside from the technological difficulties, what's the reward for all
>>this? My favorite laugher was when Bush said his plan would let us
>>harvest the moon's abundant natural resources. Say what?!?!? I know of no
>>valuable resources there - and even if there are some, how could they
>>possibly be so valuable that spending billions of dollars to recover
>>small quantities of them makes any economic sense?
>>
>>So please tell me: am I a space moron? Am I missing the obvious? Or is
>>the mainstream media in serious derelect of duty in not pointing out the
>>scientific illogic of this plan?
>>
>>Scratching my head,
>>Jonah Cohen
>>Outreach & Public Programs Manager
>>Science Center of Connecticut
>>
>>
>>"Too many whites are getting away with drug use.
>>The answer is to... find the ones who are getting away with it, convict
>>them,
>>and send them up the river."
>>      -Rush Limbaugh
>>
>>
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>>
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>>
>
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--
Beryl Rosenthal, Ph.D.
Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs
MIT Museum
265 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA  02139
Tel: 617-452-2111
Fax: 617-253-8994
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More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
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