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Originally Posted by MaggieL
Seems to me we're transitioning very slowly to privatized space untiliation. The next ten years will prove very interesting.
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Note changes made to NASA's objectives as defined by Congress. Study of earth science has been completely removed. The exploration of space has been replaced with 'colonization of space'. As a result, those wildly successful unmanned space programs (that consumed less than 10% of NASA's budget and did most of the science) are being trimmed back for things like the ISS, a moon base, and sending a man to Mars. All sound good politically - and currently have near zero science benefit.
Even the Martian Rovers that were so successful as to require refunding almost got eliminated.