Space Debate - The Gormogons

As the pinch gets put on the federal budget (hopefully) and maybe in part to help fund the soon-to-be-broadcasted ~~ABC~~ State Run News ~~coverage~~ infomercial of the Obama healthcare plan, various other agency budgets are getting trimmed or frozen at current levels. One such agency is NASA. We, as a nation, have come a long way thanks to much of the innovation that was/is part of the space program. There are whole lines of technologies, an explosion of human knowledge about the planet, and a better understanding of the solar system and universe that have come from aspects of the space program. We’ve even been able to work in a peaceful multi-national coalition towards a common goal (visible to many – click the link, set your location and timezone and pick the ISS link for the next passes over your area). Maybe the next step is to commercialize it and allow or even encourage private industry to enter the fray with the government is flat-lining the NASA budget. To a large degree that is what is driving companies like Space X.

Some people would say that it’s a waste and others will defend it. I think I come down in the middle. I fear being so short-sighted that we miss out on the opportunities and advancements that could or will come as a result of continuing space exploration. And I also fear the general waste that happens as federal budgets grow. Some sort of private-public partnership might be a good plan moving forward where companies retain commercial rights to the technologies created as a result.

An expansion to the Moon, Mars, etc. is likely in our future. How soon and how quickly are the real questions.

GorT

GorT is an eight-foot-tall robot from the 51ˢᵗ Century who routinely time-travels to steal expensive technology from the future and return it to the past for retroinvention. The profits from this pay all the Gormogons’ bills, including subsidizing this website. Some of the products he has introduced from the future include oven mitts, the Guinness widget, Oxy-Clean, and Dr. Pepper. Due to his immense cybernetic brain, GorT is able to produce a post in 0.023 seconds and research it in even less time. Only ’Puter spends less time on research. GorT speaks entirely in zeros and ones, but occasionally throws in a ڭ to annoy the Volgi. He is a massive proponent of science, technology, and energy development, and enjoys nothing more than taking the Czar’s more interesting scientific theories, going into the past, publishing them as his own, and then returning to take credit for them. He is the only Gormogon who is capable of doing math. Possessed of incredible strength, he understands the awesome responsibility that follows and only uses it to hurt people.