Sell ​​cakes and car washes to dream about space exploration

Instead of sitting in the lab, scientists will sell cakes and car washes to contribute money to US space exploration projects.

According to the budget plan that US President Barack Obama's administration submitted to parliament earlier in the year, funding for space exploration projects by the US Space Agency (NASA) will be reduced by 300 million. USD. Although the US Congress has not yet approved the plan, many scientists have decided to participate in the car wash event, selling cakes shaped like spacecraft, planets, galaxies to contribute money to exploratory projects. space on June 9. In fact, this is a form of protest against the budget reduction policy for NASA scientists, Discovery News reported.

The construction of a spaceship can cost millions or billions of dollars, and the interest of each pie is only a few cents, but many cakes will make a big sum. That is the argument of the organizers of the car washing and selling event called 'Planetary Exploration' at Central Florida University, USA. The professors and students of the school hope this event will attract the attention of US MPs, making them more funding for research projects in the solar system. 19 similar events will be held throughout the United States.

'We do not require parliament to grant more money to NASA, but only ask them to reduce NASA's budget to the lowest possible rate , ' said Laura Seward, a student at Central Florida University.

Illustration of the Curiosity autonomous robot exploring the surface of the star
Fire after landing on the red planet in August. ( Photo: NASA)

Like many other federal agencies, NASA is facing a shortage of money for science projects due to the White House's policy of reducing public spending. Scientists fear some NASA projects will be canceled due to lack of funding. Some projects are still implemented, but the scope of exploration and research will be reduced compared to the original plan. On June 7, NASA announced that it was forced to cancel the telescope launch plan capable of capturing X-rays into space in 2014 because the cost to implement the plan was too great. If launched, the telescope will help people detect and study super-dense objects in the universe such as black holes, neutron stars.

The Southwest Research Institute in the United States is the sponsor of efforts to oppose a policy of reducing the budget for science.

'Scientists' car wash and sale activities are conducted to attract media attention and change the parliament's intention to reduce space for space research. The budget reduction policy for space exploration should be canceled if the US still wants to maintain its leading position in this field, ' said Alan Stern, vice president of Southwest Research.

Jill Tarter, director of the Institute for Civilization Research in the Universe (SETI) in the US, said his institute also participates in car wash and bakery events.

'America will face the risk of losing a generation of talented engineers and researchers. Those are capable of exploring the solar system to search for life outside the globe , 'Tarter commented.

NASA has implemented several planetary exploration projects. Their Cassini ship arrived at Jupiter, New Horizons is flying to Pluto asteroid, Curiosity self-propelled robot will arrive in Mars in August. A number of other projects will be implemented in the next few years, such as launching a ship to asteroid to take soil samples in 2016.