Daniel Roy Greenfeld

Daniel Roy Greenfeld

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Curiosity has landed!

I'm terribly proud of what was accomplished last night: A car-sized robot weighing a whopping 8,580 pounds (3,893 kg) was landed on Mars. It is packed with scientific packages that will expand our knowledge of Mars, and has the power to use them for at least 14 years.

Simply put, this is an incredible step forward.

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As an American, I'm proud that our nation is capable of putting together such amazing feats of engineering and science. People from a diverse arrangement of backgrounds and origins came together to make something incredible happen.

As a human being, I'm proud that we have yet again proven that we are still capable of working together to make amazing things happen.

As someone who grew up in the 1970s, and someone who is proud to have worked at NASA for over 5 years, this is my American dream.

Going Forward

Curiosity is about to do amazing things and will tell a story to us that we'll never forget.

Alas, NASA is a terribly easy target for politicians. It's budget has shrank to a small fraction of the it's early 1970s high, and it remains a target to this day. While the politicians congratulate the JPL team on one hand, they are also cutting the JPL budget in a short-sighted attempt to make themselves look good. History will not be kind to such politicians.

The answers to our questions and our problems will be found in the heavens. Let's increase NASA funding and populate the world with miracles of science.


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