szabonj@ibmpa.UUCP (nick szabo) (08/30/89)
In article <5768@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> david@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (David E. Smyth) writes: >> >Unfortunately, just because something can be demonstrated to be promising >in a prototype effort, it takes real funding to get something workable. Agreed. In fact, it takes funding of many different projects, to come up with a few that will succeed. Most fail. The trick is to try as many avenues as possible, and don't spend too much on anything unless they are *clear* winners. >Real funding is wasted without a real plan of action. A solid plan will not >be realized until the leadership has the balls to commit the nation to >solid, long term goals and solid, long term funding. > This is where you are dead wrong. We cannot plan discovery. At best, we can say this search path looks a bit better than that one, etc. But if things fail we have to backtrack. Sticking to plans which have gone way wrong is the primary reason for U.S. failures in space. We fail to learn. We don't have 30 years of experience in space; we have 10 years repeated 3 times over. And we're shooting for #4. >I'm optimistic about the future of space >exploration and NASA's role. Otherwise, I would not be here. So am I. Despite the planners, people are still curious and turn over new stones and get things done. "Want oil? Drill lots of wells." J. Paul Getty Nick Szabo uunet!ibmsupt!szabonj These opinions are not related to Big Blue's