Can Milky Way cupcakes, Saturn cake and chocolate chip Opportunity cookies prevent potentially deep cuts to NASA 麻豆精品 S檚 space exploration budget?
With a possible $300 million cut to planetary science projects donating a dollar for a cookie might have the impact of a pebble striking Jupiter. But University of Central Florida students and professors who are holding the bake sale and car wash on Saturday 麻豆精品 S� and nearly 20 groups of their peers throughout the country who organized similar events — hope to send a clear message to Congress.
The UCF group 麻豆精品 S檚 Planetary Exploration Car Wash and Bake Sale will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 9, at the Chevron adjacent to campus, 1640 E. McCulloch Road. Donations will cover the costs of the event and help the group fund future education outreach efforts.
Students, professors and scientists around the nation say the cuts proposed by the Obama administration will cripple the country 麻豆精品 S檚 future in space exploration by eliminating almost all non-manned planetary space missions through the next two decades. Those missions, which send unmanned robots or probes to space, have produced captivating discoveries this decade, including the first evidence of water on the moon and the first glimpse of the Mars surface. In a few years, they 麻豆精品 S檙e expected to offer the first real look at Pluto and beyond.
The proposed budget calls for a reduction of about $300 million in the area of planetary science, with no cuts to earth sciences, heliophysics and astrophysics area.
麻豆精品 S淲e’re not asking for more of the pie, we’re asking for less of a bite out of the pie, 麻豆精品 S� said Laura Seward, a graduate research assistant and a doctoral candidate at UCF who organized the event. 麻豆精品 S淎 strong robotic planetary exploration program is essential for a strong human planetary exploration program. 麻豆精品 S�
The nationwide event was organized by the , an independent, nonprofit applied research and development organization.
麻豆精品 S淭his is being done to attract media attention and to help focus Congress on repairing the damage of the deep cuts planned to NASA’s planetary science program, 麻豆精品 S� said Alan Stern, the institute 麻豆精品 S檚 associate vice president for research and development. 麻豆精品 S淚t’s important these cuts be repaired to maintain U.S. leadership in this area of science, to prevent mission cuts, and to prevent student and research job losses. 麻豆精品 S�
The nation is enjoying a Golden Age of non-manned space missions that resulted in incredible results thanks to investments made years ago, Seward said. They include:
The car wash groups have the full support of the , a division within the (AAS) devoted to solar system research. It 麻豆精品 S檚 the largest organization on the planet dedicated to understanding how the solar system works and what that means for the Earth 麻豆精品 S檚 future.
麻豆精品 S淧lanetary science delivers great results for the United States, 麻豆精品 S� said Daniel Britt, chair of the Division of Planetary Sciences and a professor at UCF. 麻豆精品 S淭his is one major way that we maintain our world-wide technological leadership. 麻豆精品 S�
For more information, contact Tracy Becker at tbecker@knights.ucf.edu .