Time for NASA to change

Well I don't know what to think of Mike Griffin, the current NASA administrator. Clearly he is no candidate for change at NASA, since Griffin was involved with a shouting match with the original change candidate's lead transition member for the beleaguered space administration, Lori Garver.

The point in contention was Garver herself. Griffin, being an engineer, naturally looks down upon her, at one point saying she wasn't qualified to make engineering decisions. Fair enough. But the problem with Griffin and NASA isn't about who's making those decision. The problem is the inefficiency of NASA itself.

Already the ARES 1 rocket which would send men to orbit was delayed by a year from its original 2014 launch date. Such delays are the norm for NASA, but at what cost to the economy? No doubt astronomers and other scientists would frown upon any Obama administration's plan to slash their bloated pet projects. But unless they produce a viable technology that would be beneficial to the economy and the environment (two major issues facing a divided nation) we should at least delay these expensive projects, such as the Mars Science Laboratory.

I really hope that President Obama would instead force NASA to work on a cleaner jet engine technology, i.e., put back the Aeronautics in NASA. God knows we need a cleaner jet to travel across the globe. This would mean a significant cut in space based programs and a boost to aviation technology research and development projects like the X-43a hypersonic jet program.

For economic reason, I think we a manager, or at least, an engineer who thinks like a manager - someone who would for NASA to buck up.