Comments on: Senate energy bill includes no Pu-238 funding

By: sc220

sc220 — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:32:01 +0000

There is no Pu-238 left. The Russian reserves are almost nil. Even if not, they will charge a pretty penny for however much we acquire from them. This is an outlandish situation. It is definitely one of the nearest-sighted actions I’ve seen on the part of congress. Time for a complete turnover of the incompetent buffoons.

By: Rhyolite

Rhyolite — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 16:03:46 +0000

“Nobodyâ€™s ever claimed Congress has a combined IQ above 25 lately have they?”

Congress: plumbing new depths every two years.

By: Byeman

Byeman — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:45:09 +0000

“Did NASA refuse to hire the son of a high up in the Department of Energy?”

Idiotic.

By: dad2059

dad2059 — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:05:09 +0000

We can flush billions on SLS without a mission but we will give up the outer solar system for a lack of $15M.

This is a pure international treaty political position by the Congresscritters, the reason being it’s still easier to purchase excess Pu-238 from Russia to keep their physicists employed and not selling services to terrorists. Whether they still have excess plutonium for RTGs is another matter altogether, but this is what the Congresscritters believe anyways.

Nobody’s ever claimed Congress has a combined IQ above 25 lately have they?

By: Rhyolite

Rhyolite — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 22:09:15 +0000

We can flush billions on SLS without a mission but we will give up the outer solar system for a lack of $15M.

By: GuessWho

GuessWho — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 19:26:19 +0000

Coastal Ron – :$15M? Is that all? I guess space exploration is not so important to House Republicans after all. And itâ€™s yet one more thing they are willing to cede to Russia too.

It looks like House Republicans would rather just transfer our whole space program to Russia, and just pay people in the U.S. to work on the SLS public works program. How bizarre.”

The story is about how the Senate Appropriations Committee (Democrat controlled) refused to provide any funding to DOE for Pu-238 production. What is bizarre is that you somehow warp this into an attack on Republicans for ceding a leadership role to Russia. The House at least made the point that if NASA needs it, then NASA should fund it. The Dem Senate didn’t even do that. How is that in the least bit unreasonable on the part of the House? Your one-sided view of the world (GOP – Bad, Libs – Good) does not serve you well.

By: A_M_Swallow

A_M_Swallow — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 19:05:10 +0000

The money involved is too small to be the real reason so this argument is about something else. Did NASA refuse to hire the son of a high up in the Department of Energy?

By: Prez Cannady

Prez Cannady — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 18:44:32 +0000

@Coastal Ron

Setting aside the dubious proposition that funding any unmanned probe into deep space amounts to taking space exploration seriously, this entire issue is over accounting.

By: vulture4

vulture4 — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 18:43:36 +0000

DOE should tell them it’s Pu-239 and we need it for bombs.

By: Vladislaw

Vladislaw — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 17:07:01 +0000

On a previous thread someone was talking about using nuclear propulsion and many here were trying to remind him about the politics and how realistic was it to push for nuclear. With the obvious need for using nuclear for just unmanned probes and the small amounts required this just reaffirms the enormous task it is to get funding. If this is the process to get funding for just a tiny amount, damn what would it take to get a massive amount for manned operations.