isaackuo, 2 months ago

@Aaron_DeVries What I find lamentable is that we missed the latest Jupiter-Saturn transfer window - it happens once every 2 decades.

Since the dawn of the Space Age, we've sent missions to take advantage of these. Except the latest one. A big fat goose egg.

It's human nature that a deadline can focus our efforts to get things done. But in this case, it wasn't enough.

Aaron_DeVries, 2 months ago

@isaackuo the political and financial landscape in the western world is becoming less and less viable for national space programs. NASA isn't able to do anything new long term anymore. Even Artemis isn't safe and honestly I'm not even that confident it won't be canceled.

It's looking like our best hope for actual progress in space is private ventures and China.

isaackuo, 2 months ago

@Aaron_DeVries In terms of unmanned missions, NASA has continued to do okay given its budget for unmanned (which will always be less than manned, just deal with it).

The failure of humanity to take advantage of this Jupiter-Saturn window is a failure of humanity, not specific to NASA. We collectively dropped the ball.

I know it can be frustrating when you're a fan of a specific mission that doesn't get selected or gets delayed, but that's how it always has been and will continue to be.