A few folks have asked me in email what I think about George Bush's proposal for manned Moon and Mars missions. I don't really have time to post in any depth but my basic impression is that it's a scam. To those not paying very close attention, or those in a very narrow range of NASA activities (mostly aerospace and engineering), the plan may look pretty good. It sounds to me like a massive unfunded/underfunded mandate that doesn't make a whole lot of sense from either a science or an engineering standpoint. A 1% NASA budget increase over 5 years doesn't even put good plans in place, much less a functional mission. A new vehicle to replace the aging Shuttle program sounds good, but unless that effort too comes with a significant budget increase, it won't go very far.
And in case anyone was wondering, Bush's father had a similar plan and estimates back then were that it would cost around $500 billion to implement. Adding $1 billion to NASA's budget over the next 5 years doesn't even pretend to come close. Also, it's hard to take this initiative seriously when it comes with significantly fewer dollars than the president's $1.5 billion for training to help couples develop interpersonal skills that sustain 'healthy marriages.' And cnn.com notes that the first year after Kennedy announced the Apollo program, NASA's budget was doubled, and then doubled again the year after that. This is a political scam. Don't believe the hype.
