Video: Neil deGrasse Tyson on What NASA Means to America's Future

BRAVO! I can't agree more its people like this guy and Michio Kaku that should be running NASA.

As I said in an earlier post It's sad that one of the single most important things we as human beings need to do has a price tag.

Damn that Gravity!

Bravo

Our lab will have more students this year then it has had in 6 years.

We have High School, Undergrad, Grad, Postdoc this year. It maybe 20 visitors in all.
We are very proud to work with the federal labs in the area in the same efforts.

Here in the UK we have a term for orators of that stature: "National Treasure!"
Although the lack of comment on Youtube is somewhat worrying. 20,875 views, zero comments. Apathy?

"...1/2 a penny on the Dollar..." SO WELL put! Dirt cheap in other words. To think that had NLS'92/DIRECT been the POR to begin with, we'd be on our way out of LEO W/O a budget increase...
De Grasse should have Bolden's Job - or at a pinch Garver's. EXCELLENT: thanks for sharing that Keith.

Add another great mind that questions the Obama "plan".

Sadly Obama will not understand this man.
He doesn't think like him, and he won't get it.

This is the last guy Obama would want at the "summit", or whatever it's being called now.

Great speaker! He is right, I m an engineer cause NASA's human space flights inspired me when young. What would be the humanity without satellites, microelectroncis, knowledge of the Earth, weather forecasts, new materials, and so on? What would be population with less engineers, scientists, phisician? Would you prefear to have more wizards and spielers?

Everything has a price.
What is shameful is how many people cant put the cost of space exploration in perspective with what its worth compared to other programs.
To make things worse, this isn't the star trek end of exploration where you are just paying to go. This is the ugly, dirty, and dangerous business of developing the means to travel while also finding safe camp sites and new means for survival.

Just shopping for the cheapest ticket to the nearest stop wont do anymore.

He makes a good case that LEO is not a frontier anymore and is indeed appropriate for commercial entities where as BEO is a frontier and is appropriate for NASA to explore...which is an element of the Obama plan.

He makes a good case the nations that invest in science and technology research also 'lead the world'. ...which is an element of the Obama plan

He says: "NASA is a force or nature like none other" "A force on the educational pipeline". He makes a great case that the Obama plan is missing this element by not having us 'go somewhere'

"we're a nation that is fading..we're not dreaming about tomorrow anymore...the most powerful agency (NASA) on the dreams of a Nation, is currently underfunded"....is missing as an element of the Obama plan.

IMHO NASA is the only Agency of the federal government that is not about 'solving a social problem'. It is an engine for creating possibilities where none exist; the value to society of which is priceless.

Mr. deGrasse Tyson hits this nail on the head. He does indeed have a grasp of the rationale of many of the Obama plan elements and what's missing in it and should be invited to speak at KSC later this month.

Perhaps Keith can make this happen? (smile)

Excellent speech. Unfortunately, our so called national leaders are very timid about being daring to explore beyong LEO. In the words of my former mentors: "we've done shuttle and space station. We are definitely better than that."

It truly is sad that someone this passionate and supportive of NASA isn't involved in this "summit". Hard to sit and watch your dreams and your future evaporate, after aiming for them and striving to achieve them your whole life. While politicians make decisions based not on science, but on "vague notions" about what they think is best of the current economy, ignorant of the future and the vision needed right now by this country.

When the NASA Admin job was still open I mentioned deGrasse Tyson as an option on this forum. We got a good soldier - a puppet in his stead.

Obama has been here before, repleat with lots of campaign lies. So those of you who harbor any hope whatsoever on this "summit" will likely be looking back in a decade and kicking yourselves.

I'm going to type up a trancript if I can't find one, and send it with the link to the video to every representative I have and the entire house science committee.

I urge everyone to do similar.

"...we're definitely better than that..." Very self-congratulatory. Unfortunately we can't keep to budget or timeframes - which sets up the cancellation M.O for politicians that don't want to continue what their predecessor had begun. Rather belies the statement IMO.

The lack of comments may be YouTube's fault. Try posting a comment yourself. I got repeated errors when I pushed "post".

Excellent thoughts! He understands that the agency is underfunded and suffering from apathy that began with indecision after Apollo, carried on through "better, faster, cheaper" and, yes, through Constellation's "pay as you go, we'll integrate later" strategy. Every administration has put their stamp on budget reductions at NASA, even with studies that have shown that the American public has an expectation of higher investments in NASA. Because of its nature, NASA has no shortage of ideas to compete for relatively few dollars.

The frontier exists beyond the reach of infrastructure that hasn't been built yet. Commercial entities fail to impress with any vision or defined market strategy other than government contracts. Neil deGrasse Tyson calls for a force and a vision, but he also implies the need for a determined commitment from the American public. Infrastructure on the ground, in space, and on planetary surfaces enables the expansion of the frontier. Both government and commerce must co-exist in the effort.

Cessna, I am pleased that we agree on NdGT's remarks -- that explains cold weather in Hades today. ;-) But you're still close-minded on Obama, while I'm watching hopefully. I think Obama would embrace this message, because it points out a specific fixable lack in the program, and a powerful rationale for solidified increasing funding for NASA.

I would not be the least bit surprised to see NdGT at the summit, as an opening act for essentially a VSE-2.0 speech -- redefining VSE and recommitting to it. Remember, the entire content of the Obama proposal so far has been captured in a proposed budget -- hardly the right way to roll out and sell a major policy change. This might be Obama's chosen venue for a do-over on that.

So while you're at it, send copies to the WH and OSTP also. Can't hurt, right?

So right—this man should be running NASA.
Anyone that listens to him for 5 minutes can tell he knows what he's talking about.
He should be at least on a top advisory board.

Transcript hopefully without errors. :)

Neil deGrasse Tyson's remarks to the following question:

Question: Would you like to care to discuss the recent changes to the nations space program?

Let us start out by asking what is NASA to us as a nation? What is NASA?

If I had a nickel for every time someone said why are we spending money up there
when we have problems down here...

And I think about if your only looking down, one day the asteroids coming... you know,
but I'm just looking down here, I'm fine. here comes....(gestures to above)

At some point you gotta look up.

In the current plan, it promotes the commercial access to low earth orbit,
couple of hundred miles up where the space station and space shuttle goes.

Low earth orbit is no longer a space frontier. The original space act from 1958 says NASA needs to advance a space frontier.
Low earth orbit is to boldly go where hundreds have gone before. It's not a frontier
anymore.

Move NASA to the next step.

What does the program allow? It says were not going to the moon anymore.
Maybe we'll go to Mars one day, I don't know when,
but let's work on some technology that might enable that someday.
That worries me, because without a plan to go somewhere outside of low
earth orbit we've go not force operating on the education pipeline of America.
NASA as best as I can judge is a force of nature like none other.

I have never seen, with all due respect to other federal agencies, I have never
seen eighth graders sit up in there chair and say when I grow up I want to
be an NSF researcher or an NIH researcher. With all due respect to those agencies,
they do important scientific work, but they are unknown and invisible at the
age where people choose what they want to be when they grow up.

And so what worries me is if you take away the manned program, a program which if
you advance frontiers you make.. heroes are made. OK?
There's a force operating on the educational pipeline that will stimulate the formation
of scientists, engineers, mathematicians and technologists... the STEM research fields.
You birth these people into society, there the ones that make tomorrow come.

The foundations of economies in this the 21st century will issue forth from investments
we make in science and technology.. THAT we've known since the dawn of the industrial revolution.
We have known that those nations that embrace those investments are those that lead the world.

America is fading right now... fading.
By the way, how much does NASA cost? It's a half a penny on a dollar.

Did you know that!?

That people that say, "why are we spending money up here...?" I asked them how much
do you think we're spending? They say five cents, ten cents on a dollar.
It's a half a penny!... a half a penny.
That buys the space station, the space shuttles, all the NASA centers, the rovers, the Hubble
telescope, all the astronauts... all of that.

Nobody's dreaming about tomorrow anymore.
*NASA* knows how to dream about tomorrow.
If the funding can accommodate it, if the funding can empower it, if the funding can enable it.
Yeah you need good teachers, no doubt about it. But teachers come and go. Because I go to the next grade.
Teachers can help light a flame, but I need something to keep the flame fanned.
It's about the *effect* of NASA on who and what we are as a nation.
What we have been as a nation, perhaps for a while there took it for granted.

I see that the most powerful particle accelerators are in some other country, the fastest
trains are built by Germany and are running in China right now. I see our infrastructure collapsing.
No one dreaming about tomorrow, and everybody thinks they can put a band-aid on one problem or another.

The most powerful agency on the dreams of a nation is currently under funded to do what it needs to
be doing and that's making dreams come true... and at a half a penny on a dollar...

How much would you pay for the universe?

Quite correct Papa. Curious. Perhaps the poster has disabled comments?

However to lock him into JUST space issues would be a loss to your Nation. He has things to say on other scientific matters. Climate Change and ID for example:
http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2007/05/neil-degrasse-t-1.html

Cessna Driver is just seeking direction.

Such as it is. He found what he was looking for! LOL
I'm sure the President will be amused.
Bolden wants NASA to be worried in everything we do!

So this is why it is a good thing CessnaDriver is worried!

What I didn't hear the gentlemen refer to is the self-inflicted wounds of inter-agency politics or having many support persons who don't provide good services; however, they work for companies that have ties to local politicians. He didn't mention congressional interference in NASA programs nor congressional earmarks to undeserving companies. He also did not mention that programs cannot be successful if no one has absolute authority for the program (e.g. Constellation) across all centers. The Constellation program was 2+ years behind schedule. It killed itself. The Shuttle-C concept was killed in the 1980's because it was viewed as a threat to the Space Shuttle. I agree that a vision for NASA is needed; however,manned space system programs have to be weaned from the concept of being a white collar "welfare" system. Efficient use of dollars in the budget will go a long way in turning the public's interest back to space exploration.