RGO, I don’t know if the ground effects of the Osprey are solvable, and I can’t follow it closely. If they are, then I think that that capability might be very useful, perhaps adopted in a stealth version.

IMO, there are other more immediate threats that $100,000,000 could be more wisely spent on, but that is just my opinion, and I’m a long way from DC.

There are people who are well paid to deal with those threats, while money for dealing with research into the impact hazard is nearly non-existent.

If agreeing with Elton John on this issue makes me a “bigot” in your eyes, so be it.

As far as the private sector goes, Planetary Resources is planning on launching a NEO telescope into orbit. They have their reasons for doing this, and they are proprietary trade secrets. About the only thing I want to say on this is that both the MPC and JPL will need better data processing systems.

Internationally, ESA’s SSA program is moving along, with the Spanish promoting an Atlas type system. The recent impact mega tsunami evidence from coastal Spain is one driver. The data processing is done in Italy, where the instantaneous disappearance of the entire population of Malta ca 2,360 BCE is a driver.

The head of the Russian space agency issued a statement on dealing with the impact hazard; there Tunguska and Sikote Ailian are drivers,

China long ago stated a policy, and their space leadership have made several more recent statements on the impact hazard. I’ve had a stroke, and can not follow China closely anymore.

Reality is what it is, the PR problem is making people such as yourself aware of it.

About 95% of the people living in North America died in an impact event some 13,000 years ago, and the people living here at that time remember it – one part of this problem is demonstrating that in the face of the psychological mechanism of denial.

There is a need to locate a geobleme or impact mega-tsunami, preferably in a Democratic district or state.

LOL The only thing reliable about SLS/MPCV/JWST is their unreliability and that’s costing taxpayer dollars since it’s all cost-plus FAR contracting unlike SpaceX where it’s their dollar on the line. NASA only ponies up when the milestones are achieved.

Service?? LOL The only thing reliable about Space X is their unreliability.

ATK are pitching that if they get the entire Commercial Crew budget under a FAR contract they will get a capsule up there Real Soon. Plus protect jobs, plus reduce the cost of SLS….. There is also a free unicorn with 10 purchases.

Look for an attempt to redefine Commercial Crew requiring the use of items from STS/Constelation/SLS “to reduce cost” and “close the gap”.

Wouldn’t want to use “rocket hobbyists” from ULA, SNC, Boeing or Orbital, eh? Or that dangerously unreliable Atlas 5….

Remember – Failure is not an option. It is mandatory.

Any GOP district along the EC vying for the pork just for the search funding for starts. It’s laughable. Worse, a GOP congressman from Ohio (not exactly an Eastern seaboard locale) stated Obama’s gonna get this ‘system’ ‘whether he likes it or not…’ In the grand scheme of things on government spending scales, it’s not a huge amount but it’s the mind set that’s disturbing, as, like Jamie Dimon’s JP Motgan Chase gambled and lost $2-$3 billion over a few weeks and simply says, ‘oops’ – nothing has changed. Like the Osprey, the DoD doesn’t want this system.

The entire notion of SLS, F-35, ICBM missile defense (I am quite careful to separate this from AEGIS and a few other defense systems which work and I think are needed) is to maintain industries that otherwise sail off into irrelevance for lack of a client.

It is a self fullfilling prophecy, the best kind. We have to keep these companies going because other wise they and their expertise will disappear and they are essential for a strong America but of course the cost is high to keep them going but its worth it because the Chinese are going to do this or that, this is cheap this deters them.

Sometimes you have to replace Chinese with “godless Arab nation” but the point is still there. IN the case of missile defense. The North Koreans or Iranians do not have a missile that can carry a gadget that they do not have…and thats OK because the missiles in the leaking silos in Alaska (or at Fort Drum on the east coast where they want to put them) have proven one thing over the years…they cannot even hit a “target” that has a transponder attached to it. And besides even if the Iranians or North Koreans have a gadget that is on a rocket that works…why would they use it…(answer from the right wing…they dont mind being destroyed they would then use their one or two gadgets and risk being turned into a sea of glass because its better to be dead then red).

SAme with SLS…we could go through the various perturbations but we get to “who cares if the Chinese are going to the Moon”? How will them going and us not wasting the money on a government lead project make the US “less” of a country?

All these arguments are for the Winds and the Whittington’s and other right wing folks who think with not their brain but their other parts ….and they get convinced to support spending which is designed, back again to keep corporations going who otherwise couldnt do crap.

Meanwhile JP Morgan Chase is headed for a bailout after telling us that they didnt need regulating…RGO

“space industrial complex” and “GOP porkers” are pretty vague terms.
Care to be more specific about the ultimate intended beneficiaries of this particular $100,000,000?

I don’t usually comment on military matters, but instead focus on manned space flight and the comet and impact impact hazard.

And you have yet to present an argument linking those two that makes sense.

be immaculate. But in this case…

RGO, I think Obama should have gone with “domestic partnerships” and not “gay marriage”

aka “separate but equal”. No.

or left it up to the states.

He did.

“Don’t ask, Don’t tell”?

In cas you hadn’t noticed, DADT was repealed after much stalling and hand wringing.

My own policy is “I don’t want to know about it, and I don’t want to have to know about it.”

Surprise, you’re a bigot.

As far as dealing with the impact hazard goes, I need to make sure that it gets handled in a bi-partisan manner

As far as dealing with the impact hazard goes, you need to come up with an idea that is actually supported by reality. You’ll also want to sidestep your country’s broken political landscape entirely and look towards private industry. I’d say they’re even a step ahead of you.