Chew #4 by John Layman and Rob Guillory (2009)There's some kind of something going on in Chew. Top Russian and American scientists have built an incredibly sophisticated and high-tech telescope--and the governments have apparently sponsored a covert research team to observe the planet Altilis-738 and search for alien life. This is very expensive. It costs the U.S. $34 million a year.
And it is a lot of money. Apparently, the job was only supposed to cost $3 million, but thanks to the machinations of a certain Senator, the funds were bumped up. Suspicious, I'd say.
Yet, I'm not surprised this funding went through. Here's the thing. $34 million per year for a telescope might seem like a lot of money in an absolute sense. But take a look at the US outlays for space flight, research and supporting activities. The total budget allocated for 2009 was $18.1 billion. Of that, about $12 billion was devoted to science, exploration, and NASA-supported activities. About $5.7 billion was assigned to space operations. And about $200 million was given to the NASA Office of the Inspector General (OIG), education programs and "other."
The OIG is responsible for oversight of NASA--preventing crime and abuse, reducing waste, maximizing efficiency, and those kind of things. That combined with education takes $200 million to operate.
Next to this, $34 million (about 0.18% of the total space budget) to fund a team of geniuses gathered together under the guise of finding alien life actually seems kind of modest.
OK, so it turns out the operation was a fraud and the scientists had some...strange habits. And it should have only cost $3 million. But the public doesn't know that, so it's OK.
And it is a lot of money. Apparently, the job was only supposed to cost $3 million, but thanks to the machinations of a certain Senator, the funds were bumped up. Suspicious, I'd say.
Yet, I'm not surprised this funding went through. Here's the thing. $34 million per year for a telescope might seem like a lot of money in an absolute sense. But take a look at the US outlays for space flight, research and supporting activities. The total budget allocated for 2009 was $18.1 billion. Of that, about $12 billion was devoted to science, exploration, and NASA-supported activities. About $5.7 billion was assigned to space operations. And about $200 million was given to the NASA Office of the Inspector General (OIG), education programs and "other."
The OIG is responsible for oversight of NASA--preventing crime and abuse, reducing waste, maximizing efficiency, and those kind of things. That combined with education takes $200 million to operate.
Next to this, $34 million (about 0.18% of the total space budget) to fund a team of geniuses gathered together under the guise of finding alien life actually seems kind of modest.
OK, so it turns out the operation was a fraud and the scientists had some...strange habits. And it should have only cost $3 million. But the public doesn't know that, so it's OK.
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