More Craziness
Here is some more info from crazy land (actually the US government).
The DOD’s space budget is classified by the Director of Central Intelligence;
http://www.ncseonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/Science/st-57.cfm?&CFID=11737616&CFTOKEN=93702398#_1_13
“NASA and DOD Space Budgets
The majority of U.S. government space funding goes to NASA and DOD. The accompanying table shows NASA and DOD space funding, but must be used cautiously. Tracking the DOD space budget is difficult since space is not specifically identified as a line item in the DOD budget. OMB and GAO provided CRS with DOD space funding figures through FY1995 including funding for both unclassified and classified DOD space programs. However, in 1996, the Director of Central Intelligence decided for the first time to classify the NRO funding figure so total figures for DOD space spending were not available for more than a year. In the summer of 1997, the Administration finally released a number for the total DOD FY1996 space budget, $11.5 billion, but at the same time revised numbers downward for FY1992-1995 without explanation. This table shows the data as provided in the FY1997 Aeronautics and Space Report of the President (published in 1998), with additional data from DOD for its total space budget for FY1996 through FY2000 and projections through FY2005. DOD's final space funding level for FY2001 and its request for FY2002 are not yet available. NASA received $14.25 billion for FY2001; the FY2002 request is $14.5 billion. NASA's out-year projections as shown in the chart are from NASA's FY2002 budget request. All NASA figures include aeronautics funding, approximately $500 million-$1 billion a year in recent years.”
NRO and NIMA;
“It's overall finding and conclusion was that NRO requires the personal attention of the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Director of Central Intelligence and must remain a strong, separate activity focused on innovation. The Commission warned that without such support, significant intelligence failures could result. NRO's budget is classified, but is thought to be on the order of $6-7 billion a year.”
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/R?d106:FLD002:@1 (106+120)
A nice report from GAO “Space Exploration: Power Sources for Deep Space Probes”;
http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/library/report/gao/nsiad-98-102.htm
“GAO noted that: (1) federal laws and regulations require analysis and
evaluation of the safety risks and potential environmental impacts
associated with launching nuclear materials into space; (2) as the
primary sponsor of the Cassini mission, NASA conducted the required
analyses with assistance from the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Defense (DOD);”
And;
“For example, in fiscal year 1998, NASA and DOD will invest $10 million for research and development of advanced solar array systems, and NASA will invest $10 million for research and development of advanced nuclear-fueled systems.”
Gee, the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy intimately involved with Deep Space Probes. Surprised?
http://www.ncseonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/Science/st-57.cfm?&CFID=11737616&CFTOKEN=93702398#_1_10
“Military Space Programs
The creation of NASA was a deliberate step by President Eisenhower to separate military and civilian space activities. Among other things, he wanted to stress that the United States was interested in the peaceful uses of space, but recognized that space had military applications as well. The 1958 National Aeronautics and Space Act specified that military space activities be conducted by the Department of Defense (DOD). The Air Force is DOD's executive agent for most space programs. The intelligence community (coordinated by the Director of Central Intelligence) makes significant use of space-based intelligence collection capabilities, and participates in managing satellite reconnaissance programs through the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), an agency within DOD. NRO builds and operates intelligence collection satellites, and collects and processes the resulting data. The data are provided to users such as the National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA).
How to organize DOD and the intelligence community to work effectively on space matters has been an issue for several years. Congress established commissions to review the NRO as part of the FY2000 intelligence authorization act (P.L. 106-120), and the U.S. National Security Space Management and Organization (the "Rumsfeld Commission") in the FY2000 DOD authorization act (P.L. 106-65). A commission was also created to review NIMA. The reports of these commissions are discussed below.
DOD and the intelligence community rely increasingly on satellites for reconnaissance, surveillance, early warning, weather forecasts, navigation, and communications. During the Persian Gulf War, space-based sensors furnished commanders and staff at all levels with detailed information, often in near real-time, and satellites were crucial for communications between the National Command Authority in the United States and Central Command in the Persian Gulf, and within Central Command. GPS navigation satellites helped U.S. and allied land, sea, and air forces pinpoint their own locations as well as enemy targets. Support from space displayed great improvement over what was available during the last major conflict, Vietnam. Hence, the Persian Gulf War is dubbed by some the first "space war."
The separation between military and civilian space programs remains, but the functions performed by satellites and the vehicles that launch them are not easily divided. Both sectors use communications, navigation, weather, and remote sensing/reconnaissance satellites, which may operate at different frequencies or have different capabilities, but have similar technology. The same launch vehicles can be used to launch any type of military, civilian, or commercial satellite. DOD uses some civilian satellites and vice verse.
DOD develops space launch vehicles, too. The Delta, Atlas, and Titan launch vehicles were all initially developed by DOD, while NASA developed Scout and Saturn (both no longer produced), and the space shuttle. All except the shuttle are "expendable launch vehicles" (ELVs) that can only be used once (the shuttle is reusable). An August 1994 White House policy gave DOD responsibility for maintaining and upgrading the ELV fleet (through the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program), while NASA maintains the shuttle and develops new reusable technology (see CRS Issue Brief IB93062).
After the Cold War ended, DOD and congressional interest in space weapons, both those to attack other satellites (antisatellite, or ASAT, weapons) and weapons based in space to attack ballistic missiles, declined initially, but since the 104th Congress, funding has been added for these projects (see below). Using satellites to attack ballistic missiles has been controversial since President Reagan's 1983 announcement that he would initiate a Strategic Defense Initiative to study the viability of building a ballistic missile defense (BMD) system to protect the United States and its allies. In May 1993, DOD changed the name of the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO)reflecting decreased emphasis on "national missile defense" (NMD) to defend against a Soviet attack and increased interest in "theater missile defense" (TMD) for regional conflicts. In recent years, however, a renewed commitment to NMD has been made (see CRS Issue Brief IB10034). Whether BMD weapons ultimately are based in space or on the ground, a BMD system undoubtedly would require satellites for early warning, communications, and other traditional support functions served by spacecraft .”
i guess, that puts an end to dis debate does it not !where the concluding point is dat the U.S iz selfish as it has always been !right from second world war i can justify this statement through the telecast of "HISTORY IN COLOR" which said that the then U.S president asked the u.s army to drop NUCLEAR bombs in the event when the japanese army failed to surrender !Now that 's a very good gesture of maintaing world peace !and what about the AIDS VIRUS ??was that notta biological weapon developed by the u.s ? .
