In case anyone cares...
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/ma...ity_news3.html
-t
Last edited by tangent4ronpaul; 08-06-2012 at 12:45 AM.
cheer for another waste of taxpayer money! A speaker even added "it only cost $7 per citizen" "my boss Barack Obama" "I can only think of what Teddy Roosevelt said"....smh
So "only" around 2.1 billion? Worth it.Originally Posted by Nickels
yep. ONLY. Next time somebody says the national debt works out to be however many tens of thousands per citizens, remember that this ONLY cost $7.So "only" around 2.1 billion? Worth it.
LOL wait were you being sarcastic about the cost not being worth it? If so it went RIGHT over my head.
A Gerald R. Ford class Aircraft carrier costs 14 Billion, including R&D. 9 Billion after R&D Mittens wants to build a couple more of um.So "only" around 2.1 billion? Worth it.
I'd call 2.1 Billion a bargain and would much rather put science packages on other planets then build more warships.
-t
maybe so but government has no business getting involved with this at all
If you think that this was a waste of taxpayer money then I simply have no words for you.
It most certainly was not a "waste" and it most certainly is not something the government should be doing.
FWIW, NASA is about the coolest, most productive thing our government has ever been part of.
So nerd pork doesn't smell as bad as, say, pharma pork or welfare pork?
Nerd pork isn't in the Constitution either.
Waste or no waste it was stolen money.
Terminus tela viaticus!
Then I suspect you simply have no words for at least three quarters of the people on this forum. Theft is theft, even if the confiscated money is used to do something that is just "so cool"!
WOW where did this theft crap come from on the forums? I said it was not a waste of taxpayer money. I never said anything about how the money was acquired nor that, that was the right way to do it. If you people would look at things in the proper context of who I was talking to you would see it was about a space program being worthless and their being no reason to go to mars.
So the space program is "okay" because "there is a reason to go to Mars." Gotcha.
Put it this way. If I'm walking on the sidewalk and an armed thug points a gun at me and takes my wallet, it matters not a BIT to me if he uses my money to buy crack, or mashed potatoes and gravy for a homeless shelter. He ROBBED me.
Theft certainly is theft. But there's a difference between your burglar using your money to build something awesome that advances mankind, and your burglar using something to blow up brown people or bailout bankers.
Obviously, we should work to eliminate taxation in all forms and to do that we need to eliminate spending. The easiest places to start that cut are the places where spending actually does us harm. NASA is not one of those places, and it really only represents a minimal amount of the budget. Should it end? Yes, but we do have bigger fish to fry.
Last edited by KingNothing; 08-07-2012 at 05:53 AM.
Certainly there's a difference between using stolen money/ goods to do good, or to do evil. But it's still theft, and wrong in all cases.
Also, if you don't think that at least a chunk of the research NASA does benefits the utterly ridiculously named "defense" industry, I think you've got another thing coming.
Caption me!
Ouch! - I don't believe I hit the planet that hard...
Uh, high there really big, scary, praying mantis looking thing. I really am sorry about waking you up... I'll just be on my way now... <gulp>
WOW! there really is life on this rock!
Whoo Hoooo! - 7 minutes of terror! - I wanna go again!
Hay - do you know where I can find Alvin?
-t
Last edited by tangent4ronpaul; 08-06-2012 at 01:00 AM.
Caption this image:
It's the first image from curiosity.
-t
Oops!, i got the shadwos two of my fingers in the shot!Caption this image:
lol see we never landed on mars its all an conspiracy they even messed up and left the photographers fingers in there thinking we enlightened folk would not figure out what they were :P
It is better to fight Al Queda on their soil than fight them here on ours.Caption this image:
-t
In what ways did this benefit us?
I am the spoon.
We've had this discussion before, but for 2 examples:
computer development was massively accelerated. We could currently be using the same level of technology as we did around 1980 or earlier and the idea of personal computers and civilian access to the internet, let alone the WWW would be just a dream in someones head - not to be achieved for several decades. IE we wouldn't be talking now if it were not for NASA. We wouldn't have cell phones either and we'd still be developing 35mm film.
NASA is also responsible for giving us CAT scans.
-t
I meant this specific flight.
I am the spoon.
In particular this rover is the most advanced thing ever made for planetary exploration. With that comes major advances in scientific equipment to examine rocks and analyze samples. Along with this they have invented a whole UHF radio to transmit data faster and a new compression technology. Hence why with roughly a minute of upload time they were able to pull all the landing telemetry data and two compressed thumbnails. There was a lot that went into this flight. Heck even the landing equipment was newly designed to where it literally had another apparatus eject with it then lower the rover to the ground then fly off. That is a lot of moving parts that had to be invented in order for that to work. Not the mention the new power source they had to create that is basically the same design as a small nuclear reactor.
Heck I remember the phoenix landing where it took almost 15 minutes to figure out if the damn thing landed let alone worked right. They didn't even find that out for another 2 1/2 hours. The curiosity landed deployed and transmitted photos through odyssey within 5 minutes of touchdown.
Awesome. One step closer to what our number 1 goal as humans should be: Expand to other planets and solar systems.
I am the spoon.
And why exactly do you think that this is important? Relevance please? Show us your wisdom.
Not sure yet, as we probably won't find out many for some years. However, here is where you can start looking:
http://curiosity.discovery.com/topic...inventions.htm
NASA has filed more than 6,300 patents with the U.S. government [source: NASA Scientific and Technical Information].
Each year since 1976, NASA has published a list of every commercialized technology and product linked to its research. The NASA journal "Spinoff" highlights these products, which have included things like improved pacemakers, state of the art exercise machines and satellite radio. Each product was made possible thanks to a NASA idea or innovation.
I imagine that laser that can can analyze rocks from a distance might be one of them..
A list from that article of 10:
10. Invisible Braces
9. Scratch-resistant Lenses
8. Memory Foam
7. Ear Thermometer
6. Shoe Insoles
5. Long-distance Telecommunications
4. Adjustable Smoke Detector
3. Safety Grooving <== I hate this stuff - it eats tires!
2. Cordless Tools
1. Water Filters
http://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2011/index.html
Summary here:
http://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2011/...ure_11_web.pdf
Publication here:
http://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2011/pdf/Spinoff2011.pdf (224 pgs)
-t
"You didn't build that!"
Moore's law was forumulated as early as 1965 when it was expected to last at least 10 years. It may last until 2020.
If I were to give credit to one person, it would not be Uncle Sam. That said, giving credit to one is typically foolish as more often than not, multiple people are working independently on the same problems. Talking about "personal computers and civilian access to the internet, let alone the WWW" is disingenuous misdirection. Could that have influenced or slightly altered the course? Likely. After 1980, I would throw more credit to Berners-Lee, Stallman, Torvalds.
Presently, I am a bigger foe of patents than of exotic defense/space/weaponry research. But I am an even bigger foe of falsey giving credit where it is not due.
Do you believe government is too big to stand on the shoulders of giants?
Rovers have some benefits but they have jack-$#@! to do with the PC I type on.
I disagree with that, only because big technological leaps happen when one advancement mates with another advancement to spawn something not entirely related to the parents. It's really difficult to trace the lineage of a device we use today, because everything that came before it -literally, everything- played some role in its production.
Again, I'm not advocating for the cause of NASA.... just saying that smart people did a lot of good while being paid by taxpayers to work for NASA, and that on the list of things we should target for drastic spending cuts or elimination, NASA isn't at the top.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Connect With Us