NASA Open Letter

I like the sentiment, but I took issue with this passage in the letter: "In 2035, when humans first orbit Mars, today's college sophomores will be my age; perhaps one will even be in my job. Ten years prior, humans will explore an asteroid, venturing into deep space for the first time in human history. Today’s same college sophomores will be 34 at that time, about a third of the way into their professional careers. For the engineering and science students in our nation’s universities today, these are not distant timelines; instead, cutting-edge technologies and innovations developed by this generation in the early phases of their careers will form the foundation for humanity’s next great leap."

This guy talks about getting to Mars and the asteroids as if they were some kind of inevitable end result; as if the only choice is in whether we get there faster or slower. I think this is a fundamental mistake. Space travel (or even having an agency like NASA) is fundamentally a political decision. In that light, Robert Braun is not predicting technology thirty years out (though that's hard enough). He is predicting politics over that timeframe, which far far more difficult than the former effort.

Given that the original space program was created during the course of a great rivalry between superpowers, I say that aspiring space scientists would be better off applying for positions of the two next superpowers: India and China. These two countries are in a position where they still have the need to demonstrate parity (if not superiority) in the field of technology. An active space program is a good way for them to do that.