Space Opinions Survey

[Uncle Joe]

8. 1. NASA's budget should be higher.

2. I believe 1-2% of the budget would be adequate for the foreseeable future, it was at .48% the last time I checked.

3. I believe in a rough equivalence regarding human space flight and robotic missions, perhaps 60-40 in favor of robotic missions for now anyway.

4. NASA should play a leading role in regards to Earth Observation specifically in regards to global warming, global perception and other environmental threats to humanity.

5. NASA should be the umbrella for all space related studies including solar as well, their primary mission should be the mastering of space flight, I have nothing against NOAA participating in this as well.

6. I believe the moon and Mars are good stepping stones, while Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's moon Europa may also be good candidates farther down the line as both are believed to contain water.

7. Robotic missions should lead the way with human missions following, this is especially true for longer duration missions.

8. The same answer I had for #6.

9. This remains to be seen, deaths are an inevitable part of exploration, the development of cutting edge technologies or the mere act of traveling whether overland, on the high seas, the skies, by plane, train and automobile.

10. From a % wise point of view I suppose 85+% chance of survival.

11. I believe monies should first and foremost be reallocated from the bloated defense budget, secondly I would raise taxes on the most affluent members of society, while closing loopholes for mega-corporations in placing their nominal headquarters overseas to avoid U.S. taxes. Finally I would allow NASA to receive some form of profit from technologies they develop in their space endeavors to help fund the agency.

12. This is a hard call, but I would suppose 20-50 years for a least some relatively close in or near Earth space flights.

13. For now the Moon would be fine but I don't see that happening for me personally, however if I could live for hundreds of years there is no limit of places that I would want to visit.

14. The Moon will be a historical place over the next 100-200 years, simply because of its location, Mars may follow suit and then places with water and other critical minerals will play important roles.

15. How humans explore and eventually colonize other planets will have great effect on those governments behavior, I'm hoping for democracy, international cooperation here on Earth will be critical especially in the early going and their governments will evolve over time. If history is to be any guide it's also imperative that great respect must attended to the people of those colonies, they shouldn't be subjected to any form of "lesser" status.

Thanks for the thread, True Blue Door.