Opportunity, the second Mars Explorer Rover is on the surface andtransmitting!

The best thing we could do would be to boost the space station up to a
nice
stable orbit, lock it up, and hand the keys over to the Chinese. Then
NASA
could do a great deal more real science with unmanned missions at fraction
of the cost.

Do you mean the INTERNATIONAL space station? Or were you referring to some
local American one?

Do you people even know that the world is round and there _is_ land across
the Atlantic?

JD

The best thing we could do would be to boost the space station up to a
nice
stable orbit, lock it up, and hand the keys over to the Chinese. Then
NASA
could do a great deal more real science with unmanned missions at fraction
of the cost.

Do you mean the INTERNATIONAL space station? Or were you referring to some
local American one?

Do you people even know that the world is round and there _is_ land across
the Atlantic?

JD

Jeepers. Edison invented the light bulb and Marconi invented wireless
telegraphy without government subsidy. The Wright Brothers built the
first successful HTA motor powered flyer using $1200 dollars of their
own money and 4 years of their own time. Samuel Langley with a $50,000
(about 2.5 million dollars present value) dollar grant from Congress
produced flops and splashes. Watt invented his steam engine with
government subsidies and Tesla invented A.C. motors and generators
without government subsidies. Einstein invented Special Theory of
Relativity on time filched from his duties as a patent clerk in
Switzerland. The government never paid him to do that, and if they found
out how he was spending his time they would have fired him.

And do you know why every second scientist in NASA, JPL, etc,. is imported?
Because our schools in Europe are FOR FREE, means funded from BUDGET.
And the principle of public schools goes way back.

JD

Jeepers. Edison invented the light bulb and Marconi invented wireless
telegraphy without government subsidy. The Wright Brothers built the
first successful HTA motor powered flyer using $1200 dollars of their
own money and 4 years of their own time. Samuel Langley with a $50,000
(about 2.5 million dollars present value) dollar grant from Congress
produced flops and splashes. Watt invented his steam engine with
government subsidies and Tesla invented A.C. motors and generators
without government subsidies. Einstein invented Special Theory of
Relativity on time filched from his duties as a patent clerk in
Switzerland. The government never paid him to do that, and if they found
out how he was spending his time they would have fired him.

And do you know why every second scientist in NASA, JPL, etc,. is imported?
Because our schools in Europe are FOR FREE, means funded from BUDGET.
And the principle of public schools goes way back.

JD

Jeepers. Edison invented the light bulb and Marconi invented wireless
telegraphy without government subsidy. The Wright Brothers built the
first successful HTA motor powered flyer using $1200 dollars of their
own money and 4 years of their own time. Samuel Langley with a $50,000
(about 2.5 million dollars present value) dollar grant from Congress
produced flops and splashes. Watt invented his steam engine with
government subsidies and Tesla invented A.C. motors and generators
without government subsidies. Einstein invented Special Theory of
Relativity on time filched from his duties as a patent clerk in
Switzerland. The government never paid him to do that, and if they found
out how he was spending his time they would have fired him.

And do you know why every second scientist in NASA, JPL, etc,. is imported?
Because our schools in Europe are FOR FREE, means funded from BUDGET.
And the principle of public schools goes way back.

JD

In message PWWQb.150687$na.257871@attbi_s04, Robert J. Kolker
writes

[snip]

I am very interested in space-based enterprise. Our communication
systems are now dependent on comm-sats. We would be much worse off
without a working GPS. All these unmanned projects are not only
technically excellent, but -they pay for themselves-.

I'm curious here. How does GPS "pay for itself"?

--
Richard Herring

In message PWWQb.150687$na.257871@attbi_s04, Robert J. Kolker
writes

[snip]

I am very interested in space-based enterprise. Our communication
systems are now dependent on comm-sats. We would be much worse off
without a working GPS. All these unmanned projects are not only
technically excellent, but -they pay for themselves-.

I'm curious here. How does GPS "pay for itself"?

--
Richard Herring

In message PWWQb.150687$na.257871@attbi_s04, Robert J. Kolker
writes

[snip]

I am very interested in space-based enterprise. Our communication
systems are now dependent on comm-sats. We would be much worse off
without a working GPS. All these unmanned projects are not only
technically excellent, but -they pay for themselves-.

I'm curious here. How does GPS "pay for itself"?

--
Richard Herring

Richard Herring wrote:


I'm curious here. How does GPS "pay for itself"?

By the time and money saved in commercial activities. Think of all those
Navistar Systems in cars that would not have been produced or sold had
there not been a GPS. The additional safety in air traffic control is
worth multi-million dollars in time and lives saved. It is now possible
to land a plane safely in pea-soup fog using GPS.

Rescue operations have save thousands of lives because the location of
lost persons have been exactly known.

In military circles we can now do truly precision bombing thus saving or
ordinance used to cream a target. The uses of GPS in military operations
more than justifies any govt outlay for it. Two words: National Defense.

And a thousand and one other uses.

Bob Kolker

Richard Herring wrote:


I'm curious here. How does GPS "pay for itself"?

By the time and money saved in commercial activities. Think of all those
Navistar Systems in cars that would not have been produced or sold had
there not been a GPS. The additional safety in air traffic control is
worth multi-million dollars in time and lives saved. It is now possible
to land a plane safely in pea-soup fog using GPS.

Rescue operations have save thousands of lives because the location of
lost persons have been exactly known.

In military circles we can now do truly precision bombing thus saving or
ordinance used to cream a target. The uses of GPS in military operations
more than justifies any govt outlay for it. Two words: National Defense.

And a thousand and one other uses.

Bob Kolker