NASA and the future education of our country

I am currently a participant in the 20th Small Satellite Conference that is taking place in Logan, Utah. The keynote speaker of the conference was Mike Griffon, Director of NASA.

As is evident from some of my posts, I am a member of my University's Student Sattellite Program. It was asked by two different people, one student and one other, what was NASA's role as a provider for student technology into space. When he was asked quite simply for the opportunity to launch, Mike stated, NASA can't afford it.

This to me is an outrage! NASA, who would spend tons of money on so very many things, can't afford $10 million to help students launch their projects into space. This is a long term project, but one which will have so very many dividends. Space technology will be greatly enabled to do the right thing, to have more aerospace engineers. It will allow for greater inovation, for experiments which can be done on a very limited buget. It will allow NASA to save money in the few years range, for they will not have to train as much their engineers. Unfortunatly, "NASA cannot afford it" was the answer.

I have decided to take up arms, so to speak, about this subject. I will take a more active lead into moving for a change in the US government to more freely allow for space access to student projects. Look for me in coming days with letters related to this subject.