Nova (PBS) Tuesday - EXCELLENT Program

"Robert J. Kolker" wrote in message
news:SP5Kb.222456$8y1.901004@attbi_s52...


Sam Wormley wrote:

Dear Everybody--Nova (PBS) normally airs on Tuesday evenings
and will do so again, Tuesday, January 6th. It will be the
same excellent program that aired tonight (Sunday) but promises
to include in its last five minutes the latest images (in color)
from Gusev Crater (what is believed to have once been a terminal
lake basin) on Mars.

These rovers are like remote geologists on wheels... It's the best
we can do right now as they extend some of our senses down to the
planet's surface!

And they only cost $400,000,000 apiece. What a bargain! And how much new
technology is spinning off of that effort?

Wouldn't it be nice if our space effort actually paid for itself?

Ye gods, does everything have to be measured in terms of financial return?

Have you realised that if you were to switch off your space research, a
large industry would grind to a halt, thus driving your country even further
into bankruptcy than it already is?

Franz

--
----
JAS


"Robert J. Kolker" wrote in message
news:ZD6Kb.736785$HS4.5640135@attbi_s01...


Brian Tung wrote:

Robert J. Kolker wrote:

And they only cost $400,000,000 apiece. What a bargain! And how much new
technology is spinning off of that effort?

Wouldn't it be nice if our space effort actually paid for itself?


That's a buck forty or so per lander, per person in the United States.
It's not extraordinarily cheap, but we've seen what NASA does with
cheap,
and sorry, no thank you.

You neglect to say the buck forty was taken whether or not the person
gave a damn about landing on Mars. Unless this is somehow related to our
national defense or keeping order in our land, I would say this is flat
out theft.


Although it would be commendable if the space effort paid for itself, I
think it is unreasonable to expect it to do so.

You prefer theft?

It is an exploratory
effort. In my opinion, we need some basic science research that cannot
be expected to yield results--certainly not monetary results--until far
down the road. If we only conducted efforts that had an expectation of
monetary return, we would stultify ourselves as a people.

At least we would not indulge in plunder of our own folk. If an effort
is so valuable I am sure the money can be raised in a voluntary fashion.

Any tax that is not earmarked for our defense or our safety if plunder
and redistribution. Governments are established to protect the lives
and property of the people who ordain them. Governments are not supposed
to be charitable with other people's money.

Bob Kolker

--
----
JAS


"Robert J. Kolker" wrote in message
news:ZD6Kb.736785$HS4.5640135@attbi_s01...


Brian Tung wrote:

Robert J. Kolker wrote:

And they only cost $400,000,000 apiece. What a bargain! And how much new
technology is spinning off of that effort?

Wouldn't it be nice if our space effort actually paid for itself?


That's a buck forty or so per lander, per person in the United States.
It's not extraordinarily cheap, but we've seen what NASA does with
cheap,
and sorry, no thank you.

You neglect to say the buck forty was taken whether or not the person
gave a damn about landing on Mars. Unless this is somehow related to our
national defense or keeping order in our land, I would say this is flat
out theft.


Although it would be commendable if the space effort paid for itself, I
think it is unreasonable to expect it to do so.

You prefer theft?

It is an exploratory
effort. In my opinion, we need some basic science research that cannot
be expected to yield results--certainly not monetary results--until far
down the road. If we only conducted efforts that had an expectation of
monetary return, we would stultify ourselves as a people.

At least we would not indulge in plunder of our own folk. If an effort
is so valuable I am sure the money can be raised in a voluntary fashion.

Any tax that is not earmarked for our defense or our safety if plunder
and redistribution. Governments are established to protect the lives
and property of the people who ordain them. Governments are not supposed
to be charitable with other people's money.

Bob Kolker

--
----
JAS


"Robert J. Kolker" wrote in message
news:ZD6Kb.736785$HS4.5640135@attbi_s01...


Brian Tung wrote:

Robert J. Kolker wrote:

And they only cost $400,000,000 apiece. What a bargain! And how much new
technology is spinning off of that effort?

Wouldn't it be nice if our space effort actually paid for itself?


That's a buck forty or so per lander, per person in the United States.
It's not extraordinarily cheap, but we've seen what NASA does with
cheap,
and sorry, no thank you.

You neglect to say the buck forty was taken whether or not the person
gave a damn about landing on Mars. Unless this is somehow related to our
national defense or keeping order in our land, I would say this is flat
out theft.


Although it would be commendable if the space effort paid for itself, I
think it is unreasonable to expect it to do so.

You prefer theft?

It is an exploratory
effort. In my opinion, we need some basic science research that cannot
be expected to yield results--certainly not monetary results--until far
down the road. If we only conducted efforts that had an expectation of
monetary return, we would stultify ourselves as a people.

At least we would not indulge in plunder of our own folk. If an effort
is so valuable I am sure the money can be raised in a voluntary fashion.

Any tax that is not earmarked for our defense or our safety if plunder
and redistribution. Governments are established to protect the lives
and property of the people who ordain them. Governments are not supposed
to be charitable with other people's money.

Bob Kolker

"Robert J. Kolker" wrote in message
news:ZD6Kb.736785$HS4.5640135@attbi_s01...


Brian Tung wrote:

Robert J. Kolker wrote:

And they only cost $400,000,000 apiece. What a bargain! And how much new
technology is spinning off of that effort?

Wouldn't it be nice if our space effort actually paid for itself?


That's a buck forty or so per lander, per person in the United States.
It's not extraordinarily cheap, but we've seen what NASA does with
cheap,
and sorry, no thank you.

You neglect to say the buck forty was taken whether or not the person
gave a damn about landing on Mars. Unless this is somehow related to our
national defense or keeping order in our land, I would say this is flat
out theft.


Although it would be commendable if the space effort paid for itself, I
think it is unreasonable to expect it to do so.

You prefer theft?

It is an exploratory
effort. In my opinion, we need some basic science research that cannot
be expected to yield results--certainly not monetary results--until far
down the road. If we only conducted efforts that had an expectation of
monetary return, we would stultify ourselves as a people.

At least we would not indulge in plunder of our own folk. If an effort
is so valuable I am sure the money can be raised in a voluntary fashion.

Any tax that is not earmarked for our defense or our safety if plunder
and redistribution. Governments are established to protect the lives
and property of the people who ordain them. Governments are not supposed
to be charitable with other people's money.

Bob Kolker


Sounds like a typical Republican.

For my part, I'd much rather spend the money on space exploration than spend
it to send hundreds of young soldiers to their deaths based on lies from a
president who was not elected.



--
----
JAS
US Army (Retired)

"Robert J. Kolker" wrote in message
news:ZD6Kb.736785$HS4.5640135@attbi_s01...


Brian Tung wrote:

Robert J. Kolker wrote:

And they only cost $400,000,000 apiece. What a bargain! And how much new
technology is spinning off of that effort?

Wouldn't it be nice if our space effort actually paid for itself?


That's a buck forty or so per lander, per person in the United States.
It's not extraordinarily cheap, but we've seen what NASA does with
cheap,
and sorry, no thank you.

You neglect to say the buck forty was taken whether or not the person
gave a damn about landing on Mars. Unless this is somehow related to our
national defense or keeping order in our land, I would say this is flat
out theft.


Although it would be commendable if the space effort paid for itself, I
think it is unreasonable to expect it to do so.

You prefer theft?

It is an exploratory
effort. In my opinion, we need some basic science research that cannot
be expected to yield results--certainly not monetary results--until far
down the road. If we only conducted efforts that had an expectation of
monetary return, we would stultify ourselves as a people.

At least we would not indulge in plunder of our own folk. If an effort
is so valuable I am sure the money can be raised in a voluntary fashion.

Any tax that is not earmarked for our defense or our safety if plunder
and redistribution. Governments are established to protect the lives
and property of the people who ordain them. Governments are not supposed
to be charitable with other people's money.

Bob Kolker


Sounds like a typical Republican.

For my part, I'd much rather spend the money on space exploration than spend
it to send hundreds of young soldiers to their deaths based on lies from a
president who was not elected.



--
----
JAS
US Army (Retired)

"Robert J. Kolker" wrote in message
news:ZD6Kb.736785$HS4.5640135@attbi_s01...


Brian Tung wrote:

Robert J. Kolker wrote:

And they only cost $400,000,000 apiece. What a bargain! And how much new
technology is spinning off of that effort?

Wouldn't it be nice if our space effort actually paid for itself?


That's a buck forty or so per lander, per person in the United States.
It's not extraordinarily cheap, but we've seen what NASA does with
cheap,
and sorry, no thank you.

You neglect to say the buck forty was taken whether or not the person
gave a damn about landing on Mars. Unless this is somehow related to our
national defense or keeping order in our land, I would say this is flat
out theft.


Although it would be commendable if the space effort paid for itself, I
think it is unreasonable to expect it to do so.

You prefer theft?

It is an exploratory
effort. In my opinion, we need some basic science research that cannot
be expected to yield results--certainly not monetary results--until far
down the road. If we only conducted efforts that had an expectation of
monetary return, we would stultify ourselves as a people.

At least we would not indulge in plunder of our own folk. If an effort
is so valuable I am sure the money can be raised in a voluntary fashion.

Any tax that is not earmarked for our defense or our safety if plunder
and redistribution. Governments are established to protect the lives
and property of the people who ordain them. Governments are not supposed
to be charitable with other people's money.

Bob Kolker


Sounds like a typical Republican.

For my part, I'd much rather spend the money on space exploration than spend
it to send hundreds of young soldiers to their deaths based on lies from a
president who was not elected.



--
----
JAS
US Army (Retired)

In article , "Franz Heymann" writes:

"Robert J. Kolker" wrote in message
news:SP5Kb.222456$8y1.901004@attbi_s52...


Sam Wormley wrote:

Dear Everybody--Nova (PBS) normally airs on Tuesday evenings
and will do so again, Tuesday, January 6th. It will be the
same excellent program that aired tonight (Sunday) but promises
to include in its last five minutes the latest images (in color)
from Gusev Crater (what is believed to have once been a terminal
lake basin) on Mars.

These rovers are like remote geologists on wheels... It's the best
we can do right now as they extend some of our senses down to the
planet's surface!

And they only cost $400,000,000 apiece. What a bargain! And how much new
technology is spinning off of that effort?

Wouldn't it be nice if our space effort actually paid for itself?

Ye gods, does everything have to be measured in terms of financial return?

Have you realised that if you were to switch off your space research, a
large industry would grind to a halt, thus driving your country even further
into bankruptcy than it already is?

Eh? NASA's budget is of the order of 10 G$ a year. Mind you, not all
of this is going to space research (in fact, just a rather small
fraction does) and not all of this translates to orders to industry
(no, not even most of this). But even if you take the whole sum, it
amounts to about 0.1% of the US GNP. The breakfast cereal industry is
much larger than this.

As for "bankruptcy", I'll bring to your attention that the US economy
is one of the very few western economies that are actually growing.

Mati Meron | "When you argue with a fool,
| chances are he is doing just the same"

In article , "Franz Heymann" writes:

"Robert J. Kolker" wrote in message
news:SP5Kb.222456$8y1.901004@attbi_s52...


Sam Wormley wrote:

Dear Everybody--Nova (PBS) normally airs on Tuesday evenings
and will do so again, Tuesday, January 6th. It will be the
same excellent program that aired tonight (Sunday) but promises
to include in its last five minutes the latest images (in color)
from Gusev Crater (what is believed to have once been a terminal
lake basin) on Mars.

These rovers are like remote geologists on wheels... It's the best
we can do right now as they extend some of our senses down to the
planet's surface!

And they only cost $400,000,000 apiece. What a bargain! And how much new
technology is spinning off of that effort?

Wouldn't it be nice if our space effort actually paid for itself?

Ye gods, does everything have to be measured in terms of financial return?

Have you realised that if you were to switch off your space research, a
large industry would grind to a halt, thus driving your country even further
into bankruptcy than it already is?

Eh? NASA's budget is of the order of 10 G$ a year. Mind you, not all
of this is going to space research (in fact, just a rather small
fraction does) and not all of this translates to orders to industry
(no, not even most of this). But even if you take the whole sum, it
amounts to about 0.1% of the US GNP. The breakfast cereal industry is
much larger than this.

As for "bankruptcy", I'll bring to your attention that the US economy
is one of the very few western economies that are actually growing.

Mati Meron | "When you argue with a fool,
| chances are he is doing just the same"

In article , "Franz Heymann" writes:

"Robert J. Kolker" wrote in message
news:SP5Kb.222456$8y1.901004@attbi_s52...


Sam Wormley wrote:

Dear Everybody--Nova (PBS) normally airs on Tuesday evenings
and will do so again, Tuesday, January 6th. It will be the
same excellent program that aired tonight (Sunday) but promises
to include in its last five minutes the latest images (in color)
from Gusev Crater (what is believed to have once been a terminal
lake basin) on Mars.

These rovers are like remote geologists on wheels... It's the best
we can do right now as they extend some of our senses down to the
planet's surface!

And they only cost $400,000,000 apiece. What a bargain! And how much new
technology is spinning off of that effort?

Wouldn't it be nice if our space effort actually paid for itself?

Ye gods, does everything have to be measured in terms of financial return?

Have you realised that if you were to switch off your space research, a
large industry would grind to a halt, thus driving your country even further
into bankruptcy than it already is?

Eh? NASA's budget is of the order of 10 G$ a year. Mind you, not all
of this is going to space research (in fact, just a rather small
fraction does) and not all of this translates to orders to industry
(no, not even most of this). But even if you take the whole sum, it
amounts to about 0.1% of the US GNP. The breakfast cereal industry is
much larger than this.

As for "bankruptcy", I'll bring to your attention that the US economy
is one of the very few western economies that are actually growing.

Mati Meron | "When you argue with a fool,
| chances are he is doing just the same"