BY THE time this column next appears, we will know whether NASA is sitting on top of the world or is back in the doghouse.
The space administration鈥檚 fate depends on a 1000-kilogram spacecraft known as Spirit that is supposed to land on Mars on 3 January (North American time). In truth, Spirit won鈥檛 so much touch down on Mars as bounce down, protected by a cocoon of airbags. It is a technique that the agency鈥檚 Mars Pathfinder probe successfully pioneered in 1997.
NASA officials like to play down the importance to the agency of a successful landing. They are at pains to point out that landing on Mars is notoriously difficult, and that all space missions are inherently risky. They also know that in the aftermath of the Columbia accident, those explanations will ring hollow.
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NASA needs a big success (like Pathfinder was) to burnish its dulled lustre. As a famous American football coach once said, winning isn鈥檛 everything, it鈥檚 the only thing. A failure by itself would be bad, but the nightmare for NASA would be if Europe鈥檚 Beagle 2 Mars probe lands in December, and then Spirit fails. That would be bad, bad, bad.
The one bright spot is that NASA gets a second chance. A twin of Spirit, called Opportunity, is scheduled to land later in January. But if both missions fail, NASA officials will be the ones wearing fake beards and sunglasses in the hopes they won鈥檛 be recognised.
ENERGY is such an important issue in the US that Congress fails, year after year, to pass a national energy policy. The latest non-passage took place over several painful weeks of infighting, and culminated in a vote that fell two short of being passed.
The main stumbling block is energy鈥檚 vast sweep: electricity, windmills, nuclear power plants, pipelines, oil wells, exploration, access to public lands, you name it. Some part of the bill is guaranteed to annoy someone, and some other will appeal, but the labels Democrat or Republican are no guide to that, leaving party leaders frenzied.
For example, the new bill was to overhaul the way electricity is shuttled around the grid, and how the grid is policed and financed (this grid being the one that famously failed last August, leaving 50 million in the dark). Democrats in the Midwest, with lots of sooty coal-fired power, can鈥檛 agree with Democrats in California, who get lots of cheap north-western hydropower. There were also billions in tax write-offs and government subsidies for oil and gas companies, favourites of Republicans. And similar sums stood to go towards promoting ethanol from corn, a renewable fuel and one that enriches farmers, both perennial favourites of Democrats.
In the end, legislators threw up their hands, exclaiming: 鈥淲e鈥檒l try again next year. In the meantime, we鈥檒l just let things work themselves out on their own. What the heck, it works for Italy.鈥�
