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Interesting bit of news on sci.space.news about the Constellation space suit contract
Oceaneering got the gig.
Again. |
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Interesting bit of news on sci.space.news about the Constellation space suit contract
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 -- Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email. graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them Email: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________ "Alan Erskine" wrote in message ... Oceaneering got the gig. Again. |
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Interesting bit of news on sci.space.news about the Constellation space suit contract
"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 |
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Interesting bit of news on sci.space.news about the Constellation space suit contract
"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 |
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Interesting bit of news on sci.space.news about the Constellation space suit contract
"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 |
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Interesting bit of news on sci.space.news about the Constellation space suit contract
"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 |
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Interesting bit of news on sci.space.news about the Constellation space suit contract
"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 |
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