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From the Executive Director

S.O.S. Update: The Threat Intensifies

April 10, 2006

Click to enlarge > Louis Friedman, Executive Director

NASA is “decimating Science and virtually destroying one of the world’s premiere exploration programs for at least a decade -- and perhaps for our lifetimes.” This is the message of The Planetary Society’s Save Our Science -- S.O.S. -- campaign. In response to NASA’s proposed budget for 2007, we have proclaimed an emergency, and we are campaigning hard to restore science to its rightful place as the “crown jewel” of NASA.

Then, just as our members started to mobilize, this item hit the press: “Draft Plan Scales Back NASA’s Mars Agenda,” as reported in the April 3 issue of Space News. NASA has not only eliminated work on a sample return from Mars, but now plans no more rovers after 2009.  All that remains are one small lander and a communications orbiter.  This follows the decision earlier this year to remove all human mission precursor work from the robotic program.

That same issue of Space News reports on a speech by the President’s Science Advisor, John Marburger.  He rejects planning for human Mars mission, saying, “we do not know how to send humans to Mars and return them safely within a reasonable cost envelope.”  Imagine if he had advised President John Kennedy about sending humans to the Moon! Instead, Marburger advises that “the greatest value of the Moon lies neither in science or exploration but in its material.” He claims mining the Moon (for oxygen!) is affordable, and laments, “to my amazement [it] is hardly ever discussed in popular accounts of space policy.” With good reason -- it is science fiction.

Pitting science against exploration in this year’s NASA budget proposal is a tragedy -- not just for the United States, but for the future of space exploration.

The Vision for Space Exploration is being hijacked. The ultimate goal for human and robotic exploration of the solar system is being cast aside.  NASA science is still under attack. It’s now S.O.S. squared.  Join us to save space science in NASA.