Interesting bit of news on sci.space.news about the Constellation space suit contract

Oceaneering got the gig.

Again.

The problem is I suppose if you are the guys who have been making something,
its going to be awfully hard for anyone else to come close to you on
assembled knowledge. That is unless the brains move off and start their own
company, but that is hardly likely in today's climate and I bet all the
important ideas are patented from here to the end of the world and back.

Brian

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"Alan Erskine" wrote in message
...
Oceaneering got the gig.

Again.

"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
.. .
The problem is I suppose if you are the guys who have been making
something, its going to be awfully hard for anyone else to come close to
you on assembled knowledge. That is unless the brains move off and start
their own company, but that is hardly likely in today's climate and I bet
all the important ideas are patented from here to the end of the world and
back.

It's not that hard. The real knowledge is in the heads of the engineers who
design and maintain the suits. Hire a few of them away from the company who
lost the next big contract and you're in business.

As far as patents go, the really old ones expire and the newer ones can
usually be improved upon, which means a new patent.

Jeff
--
"Many things that were acceptable in 1958 are no longer acceptable today.
My own standards have changed too." -- Freeman Dyson

"Jeff Findley" wrote:

"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
. ..
The problem is I suppose if you are the guys who have been making
something, its going to be awfully hard for anyone else to come close to
you on assembled knowledge. That is unless the brains move off and start
their own company, but that is hardly likely in today's climate and I bet
all the important ideas are patented from here to the end of the world and
back.

In today's climate? This has been going on for decades - look up who
built the Mercury hardware, and the Gemini hardware, and the Apollo
hardware, and the Shuttle hardware... Not the big stuff, but the
little stuff. (David Clark is one example - they've gotten a lot of
space/pressure suit business from NASA over the years... and they are
a partner with Oceaneering for the Constellation suits.)

It's not that hard. The real knowledge is in the heads of the engineers who
design and maintain the suits. Hire a few of them away from the company who
lost the next big contract and you're in business.

That's a good way to potentially end up in legal hot water. (And
neither the stealing nor the getting in trouble for it is notably
new.)

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

http://derekl1963.livejournal.com/

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

"Derek Lyons" wrote in message
...
"Jeff Findley" wrote:

"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
...
The problem is I suppose if you are the guys who have been making
something, its going to be awfully hard for anyone else to come close to
you on assembled knowledge. That is unless the brains move off and start
their own company, but that is hardly likely in today's climate and I
bet
all the important ideas are patented from here to the end of the world
and
back.

In today's climate? This has been going on for decades - look up who
built the Mercury hardware, and the Gemini hardware, and the Apollo
hardware, and the Shuttle hardware... Not the big stuff, but the
little stuff. (David Clark is one example - they've gotten a lot of
space/pressure suit business from NASA over the years... and they are
a partner with Oceaneering for the Constellation suits.)

It's not that hard. The real knowledge is in the heads of the engineers
who
design and maintain the suits. Hire a few of them away from the company
who
lost the next big contract and you're in business.

That's a good way to potentially end up in legal hot water. (And
neither the stealing nor the getting in trouble for it is notably
new.)

True.

The other way around this is the winner can subcontract parts of the project
to the loser. This may keep the loser happy enough that they stop
protesting.

Jeff
--
"Many things that were acceptable in 1958 are no longer acceptable today.
My own standards have changed too." -- Freeman Dyson

"Jeff Findley" wrote:

The other way around this is the winner can subcontract parts of the project
to the loser. This may keep the loser happy enough that they stop
protesting.

'Teaming' (a euphemism for subcontracting and consulting) is virtually
a given now-a-days. In too many specialist technical fields we are
now below critical mass both in number of companies and number of
available contracts.

I can't speak to NASA, but the DoD explicitly tries to 'share the
wealth' post the fall of the wall.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

http://derekl1963.livejournal.com/

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

"Derek Lyons" wrote in message
...
"Jeff Findley" wrote:

The other way around this is the winner can subcontract parts of the
project
to the loser. This may keep the loser happy enough that they stop
protesting.

'Teaming' (a euphemism for subcontracting and consulting) is virtually
a given now-a-days. In too many specialist technical fields we are
now below critical mass both in number of companies and number of
available contracts.

I can't speak to NASA, but the DoD explicitly tries to 'share the
wealth' post the fall of the wall.

Couple this with traditional cost plus contracts and you've got a system
where large government contractors aren't terribly capitalistic anymore.

Jeff
--
"Many things that were acceptable in 1958 are no longer acceptable today.
My own standards have changed too." -- Freeman Dyson