(dc) mars roadmapping

today and tomorrow i'm sitting in on the mars roadmapping meeting at the carnegie institution. it is one of about 30 similar roadmapping, strategic planning, and capabilities analysis teams that are scrambling to get their heads around sending people back to the moon and on to mars. it blows my mind how many talented and brilliant individuals are working on this problem, and yet i'm not convinced we'll be able to integrate all this work into a program that gets us to mars. but we'll try. i promise all you taxpayers out there that we're working hard on it.

if you've never been to the carnegie institution, you ought to check it out next time you're in Washington DC. it's churchlike in its majesty. i made the mistake of trying to go in the front door today. the enormous metal doors were closed and have no discernable knobs or handles. i retreated and went around to the side door, aware of my insignificance.