This story on io9.com is getting a lot of sharing. It's misleading because the one
fact being cited has nothing to do with exploration of Earth's oceans.
The Europa project, which is $2B spread over many years, is part of the
smallest budget (with inflation taken into account)
NASA has had since 2004. NASA has less than half the budget it had 50 years ago (FY1964).
NASA's $18B budget is 1/2 of one percent of the Federal budget, the
lowest share since 1960. NASA's budget isn't even as much as it seems, because Congressional patronage forces the agency to keep more centers than it needs (it has the same centers it had at the height of Apollo) and to run projects based on maximum jobs impact (the poster child being the Space Launch System: SpaceX and United Launch Alliance can build launchers almost as capable for a much lower investment by the federal government.)
NOAA, at $5.5B, is underfunded and always has
been, but NASA isn't the cause. We have two realms to explore, and BOTH
matter to our future.
Water plume on Europa's surface and hydrothermal plume in an Earth ocean. Let's explore them both...
(images NASA, NOAA)
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