PRESIDENT George W. Bush鈥檚 proposal to send astronauts to the moon and Mars has been strongly criticised by the American Physical Society.
In a report released on 22 November, the APS warns that 鈥渢he rapid pace currently envisioned for this programme may require a wide redistribution of the science and technology budgets鈥�, delaying or even displacing other crucial projects.
The report points out that some high-priority NASA projects have already been postponed to accommodate Bush鈥檚 poorly defined initiative. For instance, LISA, a planned gravity wave detector in solar orbit, has fallen behind by at least a year, while Constellation-X, a space-based X-ray astronomy project to study the formation and evolution of black holes, has been put on hold until at least 2016.
Advertisement
The APS recommends that no commitment should be made for the moon-Mars mission until government agencies can assess the mission鈥檚 impact on science and NASA鈥檚 budget.