WHAT'S NEW Friday, June 18, 2004

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 18 Jun 04   Washington, DC

Paul Gresser contributed to this week's issue of What's New.

1. MOONDOGGLE: BACK TO THE REAGAN-MEMORIAL MOON AND ON TO MARS.
The Moon/Mars Commission report, http://www.moontomars.org , made
public at a Wednesday press conference, calls for first getting
out of low-Earth orbit.  Good!  There is no need to replace the
Shuttle if we dump the space station, which is now recognized as
just an obstacle to doing anything else.  From there on the press
conference went downhill.  There was much talk of increasing
"privatization."  How much will Moon/Mars cost?  The report calls
for "go as you pay."  Translation: "When the program is completed
we'll know how much it cost."  Meanwhile, the plan is to
eliminate programs that don't contribute to Moon/Mars.  Employing
what might be termed "orbital reasoning", Chairman Pete Aldridge
explained that commitment to a Mars program would stimulate
public interest, which would in turn increase public demand for
the Mars program.  And the benefits?  The commission promised
there would be "stuff we haven't even imagined."  That's
understandable.  WN has also been unable to imagine any stuff.

2. VISION?  KERRY CRITICIZES THE BUSH SPACE EXPLORATION AGENDA. 
In written responses to questions submitted by Space News, Kerry
characterized Bush's plan as big on goals but short on resources. 
"There is little to be gained from a Bush space initiative that
throws out lofty goals, but fails to support those goals with
realistic funding."  Perhaps the scientific community could help
by suggesting a few scientific goals of space research. 

3. MISSILE DEFENSE: SENATE REJECTS CALL FOR INDEPENDENT TESTING.
The Senate Armed Services Committee voted this week to proceed
with President Bush's proposed missile defense system, which is
scheduled to be deployed in October.  Amendments that would
subject the system to independent testing before deployment were
proposed by Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), and
were voted down.  This is perfectly reasonable, since a non-
working missile defense system should be sufficient to deter a
nonexistent missile threat from Iran or North Korea.  Chairman
John Warner (R-Va.) proposed that the Pentagon test its own
system, rather than risk faithless skepticism of an independent
agency.  However, inability of the system to shoot down incoming
missiles is irrelevant, since John Kerry is the real target. 

4. MISCONDUCT: SCHOEN LOSES DOCTORAL DEGREE FOR FALSIFYING DATA.
The University of Konstanz has revoked the doctoral degree of J.
Hendrik Schoen, a former physicist for Bell Labs who was fired
two years ago http://www.aps.org/WN/WN02/wn092702.cfm for
falsifying data.  The school cited its legal right to revoke his
degree on the grounds that he behaved in an "undignified" manner. 
Schoen was busted in 2002 after other scientists discovered
almost identical data in two completely unrelated papers of his. 

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.  
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
---
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