EP perceives total NASA funding for all programs as a zero-sum game, which is probably so. Therefore in his view, Mars money takes away from NEO search money. Mars money is big and popular while NEO search money is paltry and obscure. Ed feels that it's imperative to establish a manned base on the lunar farside as in his view that's the most effective way to find NEOs, especially asteroids and comets comming here from the sunward side. Ed believes we've been pelted with all kinds of debris in recent (Holocene) times at a frequency not commonly accepted by most researchers. Therefore Ed feels that we must act now to prevent a likely disaster possibly this century or so.

Ed is fixated on the Lunar farside observatory and being a fanatic and ideolog has repeatedly dsimissed without reasoned arguement independent well reasoned posts by philw and Larry J pointing out the lower cost more effective approach of orbital (possibly Lagrange) searches.

Read Duncan Steele's comments I posted below.

-p