The Nasa has been a big hole in the pockets of the American tax payers...!
What the world opines about NASA has changed dramatically lately. An organization infamo
us for its widespread depletion of resources – that was the association of NASA. But the success of NASA’s Shuttle Atlantis seems to have made all the difference. But does that necessarily mean that recent success off - set the blunders that NASA did in the past? NASA has spent a staggering $450 billion since the Apollo 11 Project of 1969, of which most has been sheer wastage. If one was to believe Wernher von Braun, one of the most important rocket developers and champions of space exploration during his times, then by the year 2000 there should have undoubtedly been a sizable operation on Moon, manned Mars landing and men in the outer planets. Even the common people looked up to NASA and that was evidently clear from the popular movie: A Space Odyssey. That was the kind of expectation which NASA had to meet. But the end result by 2000 was rather disappointing, to say the least. To begin with the Constellation Programme, was a failure by itself.
The programme launch vehicles Ares & Orion, were derived on a premise which was proved to be incorrect by engineering analysis as a consequence to which NASA beleaguered a lot of unanticipated expenses. Another instance for that matter would be the Orbital Space Plane (OSP). The scientists working on this project were well aware beforehand that the project was unsystematically conceived and would soon follow the list of other futile projects. However, a lot of resources, both intellectual and monetary, were invested in the OSP project, the end result of which was nothing but the foregone conclusion – isolation of the project. The project Cassini & the JPL mission called CRAF (Comet Rendezvous/Asteroid Flyby) are also classic examples of NASA’s spendthrift nature. These missions were spent an exorbitant amount on and were then eventually sold to the Congress. The only use of these profligate projects was their capability of beautifying an exhibition, to sound the least scornful.
The Hubble Robot Repair Mission is also no exception to the extravagant projects by NASA. This project as claimed by NASA is the most imperative in deciding whether to continue with the observatory’s servicing by robotic means and is worked upon to repair the depreciating condition of the Hubble Space Telescope. This project started of with a budget of $600 million and has currently rocketed to $2,200 million. That’s the kind of hole that NASA makes in the pocket of the American tax payer. However, whether the Government agrees to tamper with so much of the American citizens’ money, is all a part of the bigger political game plan. The bottom line is just that if NASA succeeds (which obviously is not a regular issue), then it reflects well upon the contemporary Government. The real question out here is whether so many failed projects can be compensated with a single successful project, that too after a period of over 35 years? For those who participated in jubilation of NASA’s much awaited success – it is not yet the time because furrowed eyebrows of tax paying Americans will only relax after a series of such success...perhaps! Till then, be at receiving end of their failures.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
What the world opines about NASA has changed dramatically lately. An organization infamo
us for its widespread depletion of resources – that was the association of NASA. But the success of NASA’s Shuttle Atlantis seems to have made all the difference. But does that necessarily mean that recent success off - set the blunders that NASA did in the past? NASA has spent a staggering $450 billion since the Apollo 11 Project of 1969, of which most has been sheer wastage. If one was to believe Wernher von Braun, one of the most important rocket developers and champions of space exploration during his times, then by the year 2000 there should have undoubtedly been a sizable operation on Moon, manned Mars landing and men in the outer planets. Even the common people looked up to NASA and that was evidently clear from the popular movie: A Space Odyssey. That was the kind of expectation which NASA had to meet. But the end result by 2000 was rather disappointing, to say the least. To begin with the Constellation Programme, was a failure by itself.The programme launch vehicles Ares & Orion, were derived on a premise which was proved to be incorrect by engineering analysis as a consequence to which NASA beleaguered a lot of unanticipated expenses. Another instance for that matter would be the Orbital Space Plane (OSP). The scientists working on this project were well aware beforehand that the project was unsystematically conceived and would soon follow the list of other futile projects. However, a lot of resources, both intellectual and monetary, were invested in the OSP project, the end result of which was nothing but the foregone conclusion – isolation of the project. The project Cassini & the JPL mission called CRAF (Comet Rendezvous/Asteroid Flyby) are also classic examples of NASA’s spendthrift nature. These missions were spent an exorbitant amount on and were then eventually sold to the Congress. The only use of these profligate projects was their capability of beautifying an exhibition, to sound the least scornful.
The Hubble Robot Repair Mission is also no exception to the extravagant projects by NASA. This project as claimed by NASA is the most imperative in deciding whether to continue with the observatory’s servicing by robotic means and is worked upon to repair the depreciating condition of the Hubble Space Telescope. This project started of with a budget of $600 million and has currently rocketed to $2,200 million. That’s the kind of hole that NASA makes in the pocket of the American tax payer. However, whether the Government agrees to tamper with so much of the American citizens’ money, is all a part of the bigger political game plan. The bottom line is just that if NASA succeeds (which obviously is not a regular issue), then it reflects well upon the contemporary Government. The real question out here is whether so many failed projects can be compensated with a single successful project, that too after a period of over 35 years? For those who participated in jubilation of NASA’s much awaited success – it is not yet the time because furrowed eyebrows of tax paying Americans will only relax after a series of such success...perhaps! Till then, be at receiving end of their failures.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
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