> Congress would much prefer that NASA ask for money to fund a new system that creates new technologies than just fund old dilapidated tech. That's the issue, and NASA doesn't seem to get it. Is it dumb? Sure. But that's politics, and as a government entity (my personal favorite, in fact) they just aren't doing a good job here.
Where are you getting all this? Surely not from this little Ars Technica article.
If there were a long term plan (which I simplistically termed "space internet"), then there would be a way to address this. Instead, it appears as if they are trying to keep old equipment going rather than investing in a new, upgraded communication system that could be leveraged not only by future missions, but also added to by private companies in the future.
Congress would much prefer that NASA ask for money to fund a new system that creates new technologies than just fund old dilapidated tech. That's the issue, and NASA doesn't seem to get it. Is it dumb? Sure. But that's politics, and as a government entity (my personal favorite, in fact) they just aren't doing a good job here.
One last thought...I envision 100 years into the future that there are communication nodes all over the place, such as a big transmit/receive array physically on the moon, at various lagrange points across the solar system, all based on lasers, quantum tech, or whatever the futuristic long-term thing needs to be. Frankly, my concern is that we'll still be doing the same old thing 100 years from now. And while you may scoff at that (and I hope you're right!), remember that NASA does not currently have the technology to do something we last did 50 years ago (put a man on the moon). So I think those fears of a stale and stagnant NASA not knowing how to move forward are at least somewhat valid (even if I can't express it as well as I'd like).