However, think of something you have given a lot of yourself for almost 5 years of university plus almost 7 years after that? Would you care a bit about it? I guess yes! If after all that time you actually manage to see it in space you can't avoid filling emotional and I am proud of it.
The day Jules Verne was launched I didn't sleep, the adrenaline could not allow for it: something I've helped doing was actually flying and now we would see if all mistakes have been corrected... The day of the docking I could see colleagues with some tears in their eyes... Some of them a lot older than I am! Myself I was just on top of a cloud... I actually get angry when people do not understand this!
Look at Jules, isn't it pretty? It looks like an angel in space:
In the evening of that day (3 April 2008), I went back to my handball club to watch the -18M practise. I opened the door of the room and... I got applauses before even saying "hello"! You don't get this kind of attitude from everyone, and in this case it was from my previous kids, the ones I used to coach. I remember this as much as the docking itself: these kids, that knew not much about space, not only were aware that it docked as associated their annoying shouting coach to it...
At this time I was already looking forward: I moved one to another project that had everything to be as exciting: ExoMars.
Unfortunately politics gets often in the way of the life of a space scientist... It becomes difficult to focus on exploring space, because most of the time it is about dealing with industrial/political constraints. For example: countries putting more money on a project need to get more work, regardless of their suitability! This political principle is called "Georeturn" and, in my humble opinion, is killing the European space exploration. I am told it is the only way: I'm sorry, I MUST disagree.
Nevertheless it still gets me enough motivated to keep working on this industry!...
Recently I was able to talk about the ExoMars project in a Portuguese magazine:
My position on this georeturn approach is so strong I could go to the extreme of saying that, in countries like Portugal, "industry" only exists to get the money, not to actually build anything useful. I recently was under the shock of realising that Portuguese organisations were extremely excited by the fact that Portugal is now fully spending the georeturn (10 millions of euros per year)... I couldn't be more disappointed! All this money and we have achieved nothing! This funding, on the right hands, could have allowed for so much more space exploration...
I am not against countries like Portugal getting contracts - I obviously wish it! However, the spread of PMEs, the pure quest for the "subsidy", the lack of a common purpose and an industrial organisation to meet it, etc. leads me to thing that either this changes or space exploration is better off without these politician-pleasing activities! It only makes sense to invest money in space exploration if it is for space exploration, not to nourish parasites.
I almost do not blame the companies because one has to survive. However, it is up to the Portuguese government who invests that taxers money to promote a common effort to actually produce something that can be useful for space exploration, instead of just working for the (wrong) statistics and votes.
This is not a Portuguese problem, it is an European problem. In my opinion it is a cancer for the space exploration and it will be difficult not to die from it, in particular if we wait too long for brave decisions from the ones that are very well paid to make those decisions but do not manage to do it.
Moving one... ATV2 goes to space in the 16th of February 2011! Following a long knowledge transfer and political inefficiency, it finally gets there... Another example of the cancer effects...
Kepler works flawlessly and again I'm walking on top of the clouds... Once again, people that have never been through this type of personal investment and personal satisfaction do not get it... Their loss!
I leave you the final meters of the docking of Kepler (24th of February 2011), a picture of the docking with the moon in the background, and a picture taken from the Space Shuttle less than 2 days after the docking:
or here.
Now, imagine all these engineers that are highly motivated... Now, imagine these engineers spending their time, effort and resources trying: to deal with political decisions, to work with teams that might have been chosen for political reasons and not for their quality, to redo their job countless times because someone cannot make decisions and the available budget is being spent as we breath... Do you really think they'll remain motivated? Do you really think that it will be a great engineering product? Do you really think it will be cheaper? Do you really think we'll explore space one day?... I guess you know the answer!
Please: like a previous Portuguese prime-minister (now president) once said: let us do our job! If you do so, success can happen! If not, stop wasting my time and taxpayers money. Put your eyes on the successes such as ATV and get your act together. Europe raised itself to the level of the bests in the world, we need to build on it, not to start from scratch in another place just because that will be easier to get votes in that part of the world.
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ReplyDeleteI don't think governments, in particular occidental ones, can defend giving subsidies to maintain companies instead of producing something with it. I don't think a government can argue it will pay the wages of hundreds that achieve nothing, in particular in these difficult times.
ReplyDeleteHence, the argument of an economic return is also limited in itself.
One of the things that can be improved, even before breaking the georeturn, is how each country uses its return. As I said in my post, there is a high number of countries similar to Portugal where nothing is produced with that return. I defend that instead of a lot of SMEs, each one pulling on its side, we should have a clear common goal and everyone working together. For example, instead of doing a lot of small studies that can never be of any use, united they can access a more relevant activity. This should be coordinated by government.
I do not necessarily think there is an alternative to georeturn, I think there are alternative georeturn implementations. The one in the previous paragraph is a start.
Then, I would stop with this huge duplication of effort: a lot of different companies and countries are getting contracts to replicate what others already master - this is inefficient! Each member state would chose and declare a limited number of "products" that country produces. I see something like: "no more than two different countries can share a similar product". Than, depending on the project country A or country B would get chosen. We would have to guarantee that all get enough credible "products" and I also propose that the choice of "products" each one can chose to master is linked with the investment of that country.
This is just a principle that needs a lot of work, but it is an alternative approach that I think it can work better. Others might exist, but no one seems to be looking for it, hence my post.