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An open letter from Keith Cowing, Editor, NASA Watch 14 May 1999 Dear fellow space program supporters:There comes a time when supporters of a fiscally responsible and scientifically credible space program need to stand up and be heard. Now is such a time. Al Gore forced NASA to implement his Triana satellite. Congress has now moved to cancel Triana. Triana needs to stay cancelled and you need to help make sure that happens. Yesterday I learned that an issue first raised on NASA Watch was discussed during the mark-up session for The NASA Authorization Act of 1999 (H.R. 1654) by Rep. George Nethercutt (R-WA) one of the sponsors of an Amendment to kill Al Gore's Triana. As such, I feel obliged to respond further on this issue. Odds are, if you are reading this, that you (or some of your friends and co-workers) know me through my web pages or postings on the Net. I am one of those creatures of the Internet you've read about in Wired magazine: I sit here working out of my house, a cat on my lap, and call things as I see them. Based on the continued growth I see on my webserver logs, and the fact that this is a one man show, with only my words as a commodity, it seems that some of you apparently find my postings to be worth the bother of reading on a regular basis. I'm a biologist by training, and used to work for NASA as both a contractor and as a civil servant, spending several years on the Space Station Freedom program as well as with NASA's life and microgravity science community. Most recently I have had the pleasure of helping to promote the exciting new discipline of Astrobiology on - and off the Web. I would not be pouring all these hours into these efforts if I did not have a passionate, burning desire to see NASA soar up to and beyond all that it, and its people are destined and wholly capable of achieving. What you may not know - or be able to discern from my repeated dumps on the current Administration, is that I'm a moderate, life-long Democrat. I voted for Bill Clinton and Al Gore in 1992 in part because I thought they would be good for space as well as for the country. I voted for them again in 1996, hoping, among other things, that somehow they'd get our space program back on the fast track to the future that they seemed to promote. For a team whose campaign theme song was "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow" they have failed to deliver when it comes to space. I've been cheated. So have you. Like a number of pro-space Democrats (as well as independents and moderate Republicans), I feel betrayed by Bill Clinton and Al Gore's craven use of NASA for their political ends while repeatedly cutting NASA's budget. I'm not saying this as a Democrat, rather, as a pro-space American who isn't motivated by partisan opposition to this Administration. Al Gore imposed his pet satellite upon NASA, with the true launch costs buried in the Space Shuttle budget at the very same time that his Administration forces NASA to gut ISS science programs to offset Russia's inability to meet its ISS obligations. Meanwhile, the budget with which NASA has to do all of its tasks shrinks while other science agencies witness real budgetary increases. Go figure. Bill Clinton and Al Gore have used NASA as a political plaything - and I am sick and tired of watching them do so. Like him or hate him, Dan Goldin has done everything (and then some) that this Administration has asked of him. His reward? Further cuts in NASA's budget - and strict orders to sit there and act as if he is happy about the whole situation. Why am I writing this? Yesterday, the House Science Committee marked up and reported H.R. 1654. On NASA Watch I've repeatedly acknowledged the bipartisan leadership of this committee for having tried hard in recent years to bring some discipline to the International Space Station and other out-of-control problems in our space program. You may argue that they might have done MUCH more sooner. Fine. Whatever your conclusion on that question, the fact remains, they ARE doing something substantial NOW. During the 13 May markup session, Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL) and Rep. George Nethercutt (R-WA) offered an amendment to terminate Triana. This amendment moves $32.6 million in resulting savings into NASA's Life and Microgravity Sciences program. These research programs, the scientific underpinnings upon which our space station was initially sold and since, has been repeatedly marketed, have been cut by several hundred millions of dollars over the past several years. These cuts have been made thanks to another "bright idea" foisted on NASA by Mr. Gore: our failed partnership with Russia's bankrupt government - one designed to "save money" in building the International Space Station. This is not a 'fund my program over yours' argument. Despite the chronic head-in-the-sand statements of many House and Senate Republicans, I firmly believe that global warming is not only real, but indeed, is happening now - and that a robust effort to understand this impending crisis is required NOW. NASA is already doing that both by itself, and in concert with other agencies. Triana will do nothing in that regard other than to provide pretty pictures and some science hastily solicited after the fact to reverse justify and cover up the political origin of this project. Had NASA simply taken Al Gore's original Midwinter's Night Dream, and sought to make it happen, as originally dreamt i.e. a live image of the whole Earth in near real time, I suspect the cost would have been a fraction of what we have seen it grow to be - sans the otherwise highly credible science thrown in after the fact as window dressing. Moreover, had NASA looked at the end result i.e. constant near-live updates of Earth, and what space-based resources were already in existence, I suspect that an Earth-based supercomputer could have easily stitched together disparate data sets and imagery in real time to produce the desired Earth image for a fraction of what Triana will eventually cost. Check out the GlobalView from Space website at GSFC for an example of what is already online. The amendment passed yesterday by a party-line vote of 21 to 18. There is certain to be an attempt to overturn this when H.R. 1654 goes to the floor, which could happen as early as next week. Indeed, Rep. Gordon (D-TN) warned that if such a termination were to be sent to the President, that the entire NASA Authorization Act would face a presidential veto. Talk about blowing things out of proportion! Is Triana THAT important?! You need to get involved. Right now - - if you support funding of scientific research into the effects of human mismanagement of this planet's ecosphere on their own merit instead of serving as window dressing for political stunts thought up whilst surfing the Net after midnight ... - if you believe that NASA should start to pay back the Life and Microgravity Sciences research accounts it was forced to drain so as to pay for ISS cost overruns and Russian delays ... - or, if you simply want to send the Vice President a message that you don't appreciate his using NASA as a piggy bank for personal political agendas... If you are inclined to act call or write your Congressional representative today and tell them that you oppose Triana and support H.R. 1654's termination of it. Tell them they should oppose any floor amendment to restore funding for Triana. Tell them that you're not doing this for partisan reasons, but rather, because it's the right thing to do for America's space program. Relay your concerns to your elected representatives succinctly, politely, and as a citizen who's asking their representative to represent pro-space citizens.
Keith Cowing P.S. I hope you will take the time to contact your elected representatives and urge them to oppose any attempt to bring Triana back to life. Moreover, I hope you will also tell them that you're tired of watching the Clinton/Gore Administration treat NASA as a political plaything. If you don't take the time to take your space program seriously, just who do you expect is going to do it FOR you?
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