A recent NASA report mentioned that a new spacesuit would be "years away" and that current spacesuits may not last until 2024 when the ISS program is scheduled to end. This is despite $200 million in spacesuit investments since 2007, which seems absolutely absurd and needs to be seriously addressed by Nasa management. This is in addition to $80 million in investments toward a space suit development initiative that was part of the defunct Constellation project. Obviously, this is just one aspect of Nasa waste but I feel as if it describes it best.
In comparison, the current spacesuit design was created in the 70s and 80s for a fraction of the price and in only 7 years. When you take into consideration the wastefulness space suit design, SLS design and construction, alongside deep space missions, it is obvious that something must change in Nasa's management. To make matters worse for Nasa, SpaceX has made considerable progress with rocket design and may even beat Nasa out of LEO. For a company with considerably fewer resources than Nasa, SpaceX has demonstrated a unique ability to innovate at lightning speed, something that I feel Nasa may be losing.
Nasa, of course, is still an incredible organization that works on many projects that do arrive on time and on budget. However, if Nasa doesn't reorganize and direct their focus toward a more specific aspect of space I feel l that Nasa may fall behind in space exploration. I believe Nasa has the ability and funds to accelerate the process of space exploration but it must address the glaring issues that is affecting the organization.
Any thoughts?
Submitted April 27, 2017 at 10:08PM by ThatSemiConductor http://ift.tt/2qlhacO
No comments:
Post a Comment