Culberson As Chair of NASA Fundng Subcommittee Makes Europa Mission More Likely 57
MarkWhittington writes: As many have expected, Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) has been elevated to chair the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Commerce, Justice, and Science. The subcommittee has charge of NASA funding, something of keen interest for the congressman, whose Houston district is close to the Johnson Spaceflight Center. Moreover, Culberson's enthusiasm for space exploration goes far beyond what would be expected from a Texas representative.
Culberson is a champion of a mission to Europa, a moon of Jupiter. Europa is an ice-covered moon that is thought to conceal an ocean of water, warmed by tidal forces, which might contain life. Using the heavy-lift Space Launch System, NASA could launch a large-scale probe to study Europa and ascertain whether it harbors alien life or not. Culberson's elevation makes such a mission far more likely to occur.
Culberson is a champion of a mission to Europa, a moon of Jupiter. Europa is an ice-covered moon that is thought to conceal an ocean of water, warmed by tidal forces, which might contain life. Using the heavy-lift Space Launch System, NASA could launch a large-scale probe to study Europa and ascertain whether it harbors alien life or not. Culberson's elevation makes such a mission far more likely to occur.
Enceladus (Score:4, Insightful)
Enceladus is probably a better candidate-- there's reason to believe that it's as little as a few meters to get to liquid water that's already known to have most of what you need for life. It's much farther away though, so it's a lot longer to get there.
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It's not 100% certain that there's geysers on Europa, and if they exist it's likely that they're only sporadic. But it is 100% certain that they exist on Enceladus, and probably constantly.
Anyway, what I'm really wondering is: does this guy want to give extra funding to NASA for an Enceladus mission, or does he just want to rob other programs?
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We have not gotten close enough to either moon yet to do the research it takes to decide what kind of lander to send. The first missions we should send would be orbiters that get close enough to characterize the surface of both bodies.
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I agree.
A Jupiter orbiter with 4 probes(one for each of the inner moons) would likely yield some great information about where to go next and some stunning photos.
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Oh, come on! This isn't even Poe's Law; you just got whooshed.
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I can only hope this is some attempt at a double whoosh, but it seems more likely you're simply an idiot. The post was obviously being sarcastic.
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And neither does it say "Whoosh" in the Good Book.
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More people responding seriously to sarcastic trollbait?
Space Pork System (Score:2, Informative)
The only thing you need to know is that this guy is a big fan of the Space Launch System, perhaps the most pork fueled missionless NASA project going.
They are DESPERATELY trying to come up with a mission to justify the $18B in development costs (likely costs are $10B per launch over 4 launches for a total of $40 BILLION!)
Every failure of this program under government cost reimbursement and cost plus contracting rules results in more PROFIT to the contractors.
Meanwhile, politicians are trying to force SpaceX
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I would agree, but imagine what a company like spaceX or any of the other commercially oriented folks could do with $40 Billion. In the long run the horrendous politicization and pork spending by politicians (in both military and other areas) will damage our national strength. The next aircraft carrier is going to be $18B. These are ridiculous numbers.
Found life (Score:3)
I'd be surprised if we didn't at least find some sort of microbial life...if we didn't though we better put some there! Hedge for DNA...humans, meh...we should do everything we can to allow DNA to survive forever. FOREVER.
Noooooooo! (Score:3)
Did he not get the message four years ago??
ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA
ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE
The dude's gonna get us all monolithed. I don't wanna be monolithed.
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Hey, a deal's a deal. We didn't get Sun 2, the aliens don't get Europa as their private playground.
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Dude, it's not called "Sun 2", it's called "Lucifer".
Texas representative? (Score:3)
Culberson's enthusiasm for space exploration goes far beyond what would be expected from a Texas representative
Okay submitter, what do you expect from a Texas representative?
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Actually, given that Texas has a lot of space industry in Houston, and high tech industry in Austin, and would benefit from more space exploration . . . that is exactly what I would expect from a Texas representative.
Re:Texas representative? (Score:5, Informative)
Culberson's enthusiasm for space exploration goes far beyond what would be expected from a Texas representative
Okay submitter, what do you expect from a Texas representative?
Well, Louie Gohmert is at best eccentric and at worst stupid beyond belief. The fact that he keeps getting re-elected really says a lot about the voters in his district. Do a search on his name plus the words "terror babies" for one of his most, ahem, "interesting" fears. He's never gotten less than 61% of the vote while running for Congress.
Ron Paul is about as crazy as they come, unless you're a Libertarian, in which case he makes perfect sense and everybody else is insane. He's not a current member of Congress, but he inflicted his idiocy on D.C. for years. He didn't lose re-election - he simply retired or else he'd still be promoting his wacko ideas in DC today.
Sheila Jackson Lee is infamous for her use of staffers to do personal errands for her. One staffer was told by his doctor to quit or he would die from the stress. She has proposed more failed legislation than any current member of Congress according to one source. She's been in the top 3 every year in a poll of the meanest members of Congress to work for.
These are just a few of the "distinguished" representatives from Texas.
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With SLS Probably Still Nominally Zero (Score:3)
Europa (Score:4, Funny)
Don't worry... the Republicans will veto this for fear of finding yet more Europeans.
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Well, by God, we're gonna plant a flag on it and call it Freedoma.
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You will need to define what you mean by "big money" as it seems like you're already engaged in moving the goalposts.
To be clear, a billionaire that gives two thousand dollars doesn't count as big money.
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it's life, Jim (Score:2)
There is alien life. I believe they are called "Hungarians."
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The problem with them, though, is that they will not buy tobacconists, because they are scratched. Plus, their hovercrafts are full of eels.
The Republicans refuse to fund anything (Score:3)
The Republican Party, especially in the House, refuses to fund anything. They sometimes fail to pay government workers and barely avoided defaulting on our debt. The military and CDC can't get funding; It's very hard to imagine this will.