/sci/ - Science & Math

Iowans representin' with a Van Allen bump

>>1628008
Ah yes, the ol' "solve all our problems down here before going up there" argument. Because that's not the oldest of old-hats.

It's not about how much funding the space program gets, it's about how that funding is spent. And right now the debate has come down to two options:

Working with private spaceflight companies to develop multiple LVs so we can launch more often for less, developing real infrastructure in LEO, and focusing on new goals and destinations.
vs
Dumping another $20-25 billion over the next five years on staying the course with Constellation (and who knows how much more the rest of the decade) in a sad attempt to recapture the glory of the Apollo days in another 20 years.

Is the Senate bill perfect? Fuck no. But it's still easily the best piece of space legislation in years

tinysagan bump

>>1627573
OSM has potential... but frankly I think they're wasting it by putting all their eggs in the Copenhagen Suborbitals basket. I know there aren't a lot of options until the big boys like SpaceX and BA open to public trading, but come on - Tycho Brahe amounts to sticking someone in a steel barrel and mounting it on top of a missile.

>>1627506
If you know any Americans, you can help by convincing them to write their congressmen

Helping with sagan bumps

I already got a letter back from my rep saying he's going to oppose the House bill in September

I wrote my rep (Loebsack, D-IA) last week. I got a letter from his offices and he decided to oppose the House version of the bill :D

>>1607258

Open with a little information about yourself. Ex if you're a student, tell them where. If you're a voter, tell them how you've always been a big supporter (even if you haven't been). You don't need to tell them your life's story, a couple sentences will do it.
Continue with some background information about the issue, Obama introducing his plan back in Feb, the debate, the passing of the senate version this last month.
Outline what each version does and make a case for why the senate version is better (shouldn't be hard). Make sure to reference the bills by name and/or number at least once. Respectfully ask that they oppose the house version in favor of the senate version.

Just be respectful and straightforward. Keep it short but informative. A page or two should do it. Make sure to include your info at the end of the letter (name, address, and all that)

Hope that helps. Also, if you don't know who your congressman is you can check the House's website and find all their contact info.

>>1607165
I don't think I kept a copy but I'll check. The gist of it was outlining the situation and the two versions of the bill, and then arguing a simple case for the senate version of the bill. It was only a page long, but I kept it very respectful and to-the-point.

It worked, so I obviously did something right.

>>1607161
Might, I know a lot of representatives and senators have email contact on their pages.

While it'll definitely be read by staff first (to weed out the crap and copy-paste form letters) they seem to be pretty good about passing the good letters and emails up the ladder. I took my letter into my congressman's local office rather than mail it to DC. The woman I spoke with was very nice, and a space enthusiast herself. She told me she'd pass it on to the congressman with her support. Apparently she kept her word.

This is a reelection season, almost every member of the House is campaigning - they want every edge they can get. Every constituent they piss off is one less vote, one less donator, one less volunteer. The loss of one supporter can cost dozens of votes, sometimes even hundreds. If a representative thinks they can score a few more supporters by changing his vote on an issue 99% of his constituents won't care about one way or the other, they'll do it.

Fuck, even if it doesn't work with every congressman, it's at least worth trying, right?

>>1607107
I wrote my rep last week (Loebsack, D-IA), I got a letter from him yesterday saying he'll be voting against the House bill in favor of the Senate version.

As insane and completely impossible as it might sound, writing letters or making phone calls to your elected officials actually works!

Got back from Loebsack's office. I was a bit nervous and worried it would turn out to be a waste of time, but the woman I spoke with actually turned out to be a big space enthusiast herself and she was more than happy to send my letter on to the Congressman along with her support.

Also, some more good news, she called up some people in the DC offices and it doesn't sound like most members of the House haven't actually read the draft yet, let alone made up their minds so now is definitely the best chance any of us will get to influence their decision.

Also, it makes you realize just how big a fucking bullet NASA dodged last week. If the House had voted on this bill last Friday it probably would have passed.

People! Stop bitching about should bes and could bes. Stop whining about how great space exploration could be "if only ___" and fucking DO something about it!

Here's the letter I wrote to my Representative. I'm planning on taking it down to his local office today rather than mailing it. Feel free to use parts of it if you write one to your Representatives, though you should obviously use your own contact information and rewrite the first and last paragraphs to reflect more on your background and your district.

You can find mailing addresses and local offices for your representative on their webpage. If you don't know who your representative is you can find out here.
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml

Quit your whining and do something /sci/. Apathy and inaction are to blame for the sorry state of the space program, not politicians. We are their constituents, Congress will never support a decent space policy until we TELL THEM TO!

Well shit, clouds rolling in here in Iowa City, nothing but overcast skies and the occasional distant flash of lightning.

At least I've got the Perseids to look forward to in another week or so. Hope the rest of you ducks have better luck with your aurora sightings.

>>1543655
What's this? A fellow iowan?? Where are you at? I'm waiting for it in Iowa City right now.

>>1421436
Yes... that will TOTALLY work.

>implying that raising the NASA budget by $6 billion will shut it down

I'll be the first to admit that there are problems with the new policy (the timeline for starters, waaay to slow) but it's a vast improvement over a money sink like Constellation.

>>1421286
> I owe them $9100
> I give them a check that appears to be for $9100 but is only for $100.
> When the school checks the records they'll be $9000 short... but since they're all so much dumber than I, they will of course simply shrug it off and make no inquiries whatsoever into the matter.

Actually this isn't that far off... the only real big differences are that we built roads up rather than down and airships didn't really take off like people predicted.
... unintentional pun!

>>1421246
>The school made a mistake... I bet I can steal $9000 from them and they'd never notice!

Hey guys! Guys! Guys I got this great idea! Guys...
... tuition fraud!

>>1421185
Actually I've been looking for those. A link would be most appreciated.