Slashdot Mirror

Fucking slashdot eating anchor links.

This one went missing (it was my "one example")

Another "spinoffs" myth. NASA has some effect as an early adopter of consider non-aerospace related technologies, but as I see it, it's real effect has been in the creation of the commercial satellite industry (which incidentally, it had to be pried out of after it created the market). That's something like almost $20 billion per year. NASA also is a significant developer of aeronautics technologies. Finally, it has considerable aerospace research that has reduced the cost of development for many businesses. SpaceX and Scaled Composites would be required to spend more in development costs, if it weren't for prior NASA-sponsored development. NASA also demonstrated RLV technologies and orbital assembly techniques (what I consider the meager output of hundreds of billions of dollars of expenditures).

It's done some useful stuff, but at what I consider extravagant cost. Spinoffs are one of a number of touchie feelie intangibles (inspiration to young people, national prestige, international cooperation, space science) that are used to rationalize spending money without consequence.

  Here's the most recent info I can find (Feb 2009) FWIW:

  From: http://www.spacemart.com/reports/The_Problem_Of_Space_Junk_999.html

  Quote:

  "The total number of discovered and monitored pieces with a diameter of more than 10 centimeters is approaching 14,000. Something like 950 of them are functioning satellites from different countries.

The number of bodies up to 10 centimeters in size has reached 200,000 to 250,000; between 0.1 centimeter and 1 centimeter, 70 million to 80 million; and a few microns or less, on the order of 1013-1014*. But these last figures are only estimates, because such particles are beyond the observational powers of telescopes and radars and cannot be catalogued."

* I presume they meant 10^13 to 10^14

  Now it's possible that the military or NASA has radar that can track much smaller objects, but I find it unlikely that such wouldn't be at least common, findable knowledge - that's one to two orders of magnitude smaller.

  Also, if the number estimates quoted are correct, then it's likely that objects close to a cm in size pass close to the station fairly frequently without being noticed. The volume of LEO is pretty large, but 7x10^7 is a pretty large number as well.

  I'd love to get more data, but the only place it seems to be available is at www.space-track.org, and they require a somewhat rigorous registration process (due to national security issues). Sigh.

SB

[Citation Needed]

SAIC Motor this week opened a $425 million assembly plant here as part of an effort to lead China's growing market for domestic brands.
And it signed an agreement to buy bit player Etsong (Qingdao) Vehicle Manufacturing Co. Ltd and convert it into a plant that will begin building mini-vehicles by the second half this year, with an initial annual capacity for between 60,000 and 70,000 units.
GM has spent $263 million on this plant that will be used for manufacturing engines for the minicars that GM is selling in China.
"China is a natural" place to produce cars and components less expensively, Wagoner said in a interview in Shanghai, though he added that building GM cars in China for the US market would be a "relatively low priority".

FTA "the Miami researchers believe this is the first time an AUV has been used to map deepwater coral reefs". Seems they never use Google.

"New Underwater Imaging Vehicle Maps ... deepwater coral reefs" - Jul 29, 2003

Funny how to image accompanying this article is a picture of a random asian man looking at an ultrasound of a brain. I wonder if this has anything to do with the article at all?