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Monster European Environmental Satellite

Posted by michael on from the ozone-hole-what-ozone-hole dept.

andygood writes: "Spaceflight Now has this article about the 'Mother of All Earth Observation Satellites' which will be launched by Europe in early 2002. This thing is the size of a juggernaut and 'every hour will gather as much data as can be stored on a dozen PC hard disks'. 'ENVISAT' (ENVIronmental SATellite) has been in the works for almost fourteen years with a price tag of 2.3 billion (Euro)."

3 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. Damn, that's cheap! by Pyromage · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now, I don't know the dollars->euro exchange rate, but whatever it is, that is still amazingly cheap for a satalite of that caliber. Contrast with hubble: the cost of that was in the trillions; an order of magnitude higher.

    Why can't NASA accomplish anything like this?

  2. Likely Outcome by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Satellite: Transmits data showing clear signs of changes in earth's environment


    Scientists: Analyze data


    Special Interest Lobbyists: Point out that at least one scientist somewhere thinks that the changes may not be due to human activity


    Politicians: Heeding lobbyists, maintain status quo


    Net Results: Nothing

  3. Re:Its Just Another Big Spy Satellite by Reikk · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Blah blah blah. If you can't stand it any longer, do something about. Lobby the government, run for president, organize a protest, start a revolution, whatever.

    Whining on slashdot isn't going to help