Comment NASA's love-hate relationship with the public (Score 5) 107
I recently finished reading a book called "The Hubble Wars" detailing the successes and failures of the Hubble Space Telescope problem. Seeing this story today makes clear that there are still several big problems involving NASA:
1) The semi-technically literate people who are interested enough to want to hear the gory details also appreciate that any project NASA takes on is by nature very complex and will have some problems. By withholding information NASA alienates those who are likely to be it's staunchest supporters.
2) There have been in the past and probably still are some real project management shortcomings at NASA. With the Hubble project (at least according to the text mentioned above) the central problem was lack of coordination between development teams. Finding out about successes and failures as they happen allows the paying public to react properly to applaud the successes and require improvements. Which brings us to the next point...
3) The federal legislative bodies tend to be punitive in reacting to NASA shortcomings. The attitude seems to be "You cost us a lot of money, we don't get a lot of immediately practical returns, so if you screw up you're history". Instead, the attitude could be "You're very expensive, but we value the eventual returns. Due to the complexity of your work, we will tolerate some mistakes. But if we see the same mistakes a second or (heaven forbid) a third time, then expect a management shakedown".
Personally, I am fascinated by all things technology and therefore am pro-space exploration, etc. The curiosity of the great ones and the hurculean efforts put forth by the minority are what has put at least part of the world into a new standard of living. Quashing the curiosity and freedom of the most daring hurts everyone.
1) The semi-technically literate people who are interested enough to want to hear the gory details also appreciate that any project NASA takes on is by nature very complex and will have some problems. By withholding information NASA alienates those who are likely to be it's staunchest supporters.
2) There have been in the past and probably still are some real project management shortcomings at NASA. With the Hubble project (at least according to the text mentioned above) the central problem was lack of coordination between development teams. Finding out about successes and failures as they happen allows the paying public to react properly to applaud the successes and require improvements. Which brings us to the next point...
3) The federal legislative bodies tend to be punitive in reacting to NASA shortcomings. The attitude seems to be "You cost us a lot of money, we don't get a lot of immediately practical returns, so if you screw up you're history". Instead, the attitude could be "You're very expensive, but we value the eventual returns. Due to the complexity of your work, we will tolerate some mistakes. But if we see the same mistakes a second or (heaven forbid) a third time, then expect a management shakedown".
Personally, I am fascinated by all things technology and therefore am pro-space exploration, etc. The curiosity of the great ones and the hurculean efforts put forth by the minority are what has put at least part of the world into a new standard of living. Quashing the curiosity and freedom of the most daring hurts everyone.
