Slashdot Mirror
To the Moon and Beyond
isorox writes "The BBC is reporting that 'Europe is considering sending humans to the Moon, Mars and beyond within the next few decades', although the UK government 'does not support human space flight and will not fund UK citizens to go through the official European astronaut training programme'. However while plans are made for the next 30 years, Rosetta is due to launch in 2 weeks time, ready to rendevous and land on a comet in 2011. Assuming it doesn't blow up on launch."
Cool! Go EU!
And the Europeans would be the first to step on the Moon (according to some). Wow! That would be quite an accomplishment! :)
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
How does the ESA decide which projects to pursue, how much to spend, and who will contribute what or get which contract?
Give the political tussles that go on in the United States over such things, I can only think Europe with rivalries running back centuries would be quite challenging. On the other hand -- they seem to be doing quite well!
Can someone from the UK answer this please? Is it the people or just the government that is so opposed to doing anything that involves the European Union? I'm German and spent a good deal of my life there, and i still try to keep up to date with European politics. The UK didn't want the Euro, they don't agree with the EU when it comes to war.. What gives?
Carpe meam simiam!
... about it blowing up, just a tad rude. I don't see the point in critizing someone when they are trying. *shrugs*
thats what we need. More interest in getting mankind somewhere instead of trying to kill a man of another kind.
-------
Support Indy Music. Buy
Any chance they'll do a fly-by on the original moon landing site so we can STOP hearing from these types?
That WOULD be a giant leap for mankind.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
This will fulfill the EUs mandate to send astronauts with God-awful teeth into space! Well done, England! Well done!
C - A language that combines the speed of assembly with the ease of use of assembly.
It's good to see more interest in space travel and exploration. Doesn't anyone else think it's a bit stupid that nations spend so much money on weapons/military, just to cause that extra human suffering that makes life so grand... while we pass up the opportunity to explore what is undoubtedly the most fascinating and wonderful thing out there: space.
Holy crap, aren't we a dumb bunch of talking apes. There's probably some pretty neat stuff out there beyond Earth...
the UK government 'does not support human space flight and will not fund UK citizens to go through the official European astronaut training programme'.
This is the same UK Goverment that scrapped subsidies on University Tutor fees so that the load on the students doubled, the same UK government that doesnt support our athletes, all athletes have to get private sponsorship. This is the same UK Government which supports illegal asylum seekers better than its OAPs or people who really need the money! No wonder the UK is going down in the world.
These Europeans you speak off... are they some sort of fruit? In all seriousness though, what kind of space program does europe have, sans Russia of course.
I think it's great that Europe is working on manned space flight, however that "blowing up" snide comment was a little rude. (And NO, this ISN'T offtopic you dumb moderators.)
Why isn't NASA interested in sending people to Mars?
Cheers
The UK is wary of the EU, because it wants to maintain it's excellent economic relations with the US. I don't believe that the UK wants to be embroiled in some of the trade disputes forming on the horizon between the EU and the US. I think the UK is being wise in choosing the role of middle-man/mediator.
As for not going along with the Euro, well that makes good sense to me. The UK is correct (IMHO) in wanting to be independant financially from the rest of Europe.
In closing, to prevent myself from being offtopic, let me just say, moontrip good. Go EU.
"Inattention makes clowns of us all" -Bean
Sorry to be so bias, but what are the chances? According to this article, they're having problems getting a 'Beagle' robot up. Hint: You might want to consider playing nicely with your neighbors, or else expect to be left behind.
While the UK is not adopting the Euro, they will be converting their currency to something called the Canadian Euro. The coins will look about the same, toll clerks on the Alpine pass tunnels will try and palm them off on you for change only they won't work in most vending machines.
It amazes me that so many allegedly "educated" people have fallen so quickly and so hard for a fraudulent fabrication of such laughable proportions. The very idea that a gigantic ball of rock happens to orbit our planet, showing itself in neat, four-week cycles -- with the same side facing us all the time -- is ludicrous. Furthermore, it is an insult to common sense and a damnable affront to intellectual honesty and integrity. That people actually believe it is evidence that the liberals have wrested the last vestiges of control of our public school system from decent, God-fearing Americans (as if any further evidence was needed! Daddy's Roommate? God Almighty!)
Documentaries such as Enemy of the State have accurately portrayed the elaborate, byzantine network of surveillance satellites that the liberals have sent into space to spy on law-abiding Americans. Equipped with technology developed by Handgun Control, Inc., these satellites have the ability to detect firearms from hundreds of kilometers up. That's right, neighbors .. the next time you're out in the backyard exercising your Second Amendment rights, the liberals will see it! These satellites are sensitive enough to tell the difference between a Colt .45 and a .38 Special! And when they detect you with a firearm, their computers cross-reference the address to figure out your name, and then an enormous database housed at Berkeley is updated with information about you.
Of course, this all works fine during the day, but what about at night? Even the liberals can't control the rotation of the Earth to prevent nightfall from setting in (only Joshua was able to ask for that particular favor!) That's where the "moon" comes in. Powered by nuclear reactors, the "moon" is nothing more than an enormous balloon, emitting trillions of candlepower of gun-revealing light. Piloted by key members of the liberal community, the "moon" is strategically moved across the country, pointing out those who dare to make use of their God-given rights at night!
Yes, I know this probably sounds paranoid and preposterous, but consider this. Despite what the revisionist historians tell you, there is no mention of the "moon" anywhere in literature or historical documents -- anywhere -- before 1950. That is when it was initially launched. When President Josef Kennedy, at the State of the Union address, proclaimed "We choose to go to the moon", he may as well have said "We choose to go to the weather balloon." The subsequent faking of a "moon" landing on national TV was the first step in a long history of the erosion of our constitutional rights by leftists in this country. No longer can we hide from our government when the sun goes down.
--
Credit your source.
That was a party political broadcast by the "9/11 is-it-any-wonder" party
It is supposed to be launched by a "classic" Ariane 5G which, rumor says, is not affected by whatever broke the last one (main stage nozzle cooling system, according to said rumor; this was supposed to increase the Vulcain's thrust by 20%).
But then, I'm the one who predicted this new Ariane 5 would send both the Atlas 5 and the Delta 4 back into the starting-block--and submitted the story right after its failure :-(.
As for this Aurora project, as long as the funding isn't there, I don't see how anything else than noise could come out, apart from a very cool logo--unfortunately I can't find a link: from left to right, da Vinci's "corkscrew" flying machine, a clipper sailboat, and some figurative solar sail spaceship; and the background fades also from left to right, from an old sailing map below a sky chart, to a satellite view of the Earth below the stars, the Moon and Mars.
The 'Blowing up' comment wasn't rude if you would just follow the links (granted, a link to a link) and read the story/articles. Taken in the context it was presented in (following the links again), it was a valid, if somewhat sarcastic comment. Read before posting folks, and quit being to sensitive.
Don't park drunk, accidents cause people.
Stop being such a gay hippie.
Isn't the moon claimed as a United States territory?
In that case, the euros would have to go through customs and pay import duty fees every time they travel to the moon?
Oh, and what about smuggling out American moon rocks? Seems to me that the Euros are intending to ANNEX united states property! After all people, the moon is clearly marked by several US flags.
If we allow other claim OUR moon than the terrorists have already won.
"Entropy is the bad-guy, and he is everywhere"
Why isn't NASA interested in sending people to Mars?
NASA has plenty of stuff on the Mars menu as it is. Personally I hope they take a pass on sending humans, there's just so little point to it. Odds are Europe will come to the same conclusion. On the other hand, if they want to pay for it, go for it!
Send the robots, you don't even have to pay them and they can be programmed to say historic things like, "This is one small step for [a] man-bot, one giant leap for man-bot-kind." I just don't think it's cost-effective to send humans with all their frailties -- and send enough extra stuff to get them back.
These folks disagree and these guys are already colonizing Mars/Utah. Certainly the idea captures the imagination.
In the meantime, part of Mars has been conveniently discovered in Canada.
I grew watching the all of the Mercury launches. Most of Gemini. I stayed up pass midnight for the first time in my life to wait for Armstrong and Aldin to take a walk on the moon. I was a True Believer in human spaceflight and a human presence in space.
But now that I am older and with our new computers, I just wonder. I see millions of homeless in America that we never tolerated before. My older friends are all in fear of not being able to afford healthcare. The American empire is ready to start preemptive wars to maintain the right to pollute the earth and to maintain the monolopy on weapons of mass destruction.
I am totally opposed to going to Mars. It is just too soon and too much else needs to be done. I would like to a program that works toward building O'Neil colonies but that type of planning and cooperation is just not going to happen. Any exploration can be done by robots. The resources for a human base on the moon or a trip to Mars is just misplaced resources.
Now, if you are going to build mass drivers and then build solar geneator transmitters in orbit, then I would dearly love to stop burning carbon. And if a few monarchies lose there billions in the process, that can only be a Good Thang.
> we should have been ready to set up a base on Mars already!
I know! I remember reading Sci-Fi [stories] about the Moon / Mars being colonized and thinking "WOW - What would it take to do that kind of terraforming?!" Its a shame that that noble goal [of living on other planets] gradually fall by the way side. Maybe in the next entury...
Speaking of terraforming, has anyone (scientists,etc) actually thought about how to [realistically/practically] terraform one of the planets, say Venus, Mars, or the Moon?
Cheers
If they went about it the right way. Using Big Dumb Boosters, which have low development costs, and with a little bit of research into ion drive technology. The cost also depends on the level of risk which is acceptable. If they were willing to accept a level of risk similar to say the pioneers crossing the US in wagon trains then it wouldn't cost more then Apollo did (adjusted for inflation.) Much of the massive cost of current manned space flight is that they try to make it as safe as flying on an airliner. I'll bet triple redundancy and
Guess the moderator's funny bone is broken or something.
The moon belongs to America and proudly awaits the arival of our Astromen. Will you be among them?
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Odd, a quick google groups search turned up these on the first results page alone:
Hate Crimes Against American Muslims Skyrocket
COLORADO HATE CRIMES ROSE AFTER TERRORIST ATTACK
Spurt in hate crimes against US Muslims
Hate crimes against Muslims increase
live(free) || die;
It amazes me that so many allegedly "educated" people have fallen so quickly and so hard for a fraudulent fabrication of such laughable proportions. The very idea that a gigantic ball of rock happens to orbit our planet, showing itself in neat, four-week cycles -- with the same side facing us all the time -- is ludicrous. Furthermore, it is an insult to common sense and a damnable affront to intellectual honesty and integrity. That people actually believe it is evidence that the liberals have wrested the last vestiges of control of our public school system from decent, God-fearing Americans (as if any further evidence was needed! Daddy's Roommate? God Almighty!) Documentaries such as Enemy of the State have accurately portrayed the elaborate, byzantine network of surveillance satellites that the liberals have sent into space to spy on law-abiding Americans. Equipped with technology developed by Handgun Control, Inc., these satellites have the ability to detect firearms from hundreds of kilometers up. That's right, neighbors .. the next time you're out in the backyard exercising your Second Amendment rights, the liberals will see it! These satellites are sensitive enough to tell the difference between a Colt .45 and a .38 Special! And when they detect you with a firearm, their computers cross-reference the address to figure out your name, and then an enormous database housed at Berkeley is updated with information about you.
Of course, this all works fine during the day, but what about at night? Even the liberals can't control the rotation of the Earth to prevent nightfall from setting in (only Joshua was able to ask for that particular favor!) That's where the "moon" comes in. Powered by nuclear reactors, the "moon" is nothing more than an enormous balloon, emitting trillions of candlepower of gun-revealing light. Piloted by key members of the liberal community, the "moon" is strategically moved across the country, pointing out those who dare to make use of their God-given rights at night!
Yes, I know this probably sounds paranoid and preposterous, but consider this. Despite what the revisionist historians tell you, there is no mention of the "moon" anywhere in literature or historical documents -- anywhere -- before 1950. That is when it was initially launched. When President Josef Kennedy, at the State of the Union address, proclaimed "We choose to go to the moon", he may as well have said "We choose to go to the weather balloon." The subsequent faking of a "moon" landing on national TV was the first step in a long history of the erosion of our constitutional rights by leftists in this country. No longer can we hide from our government when the sun goes down.
"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking
My girlfriend (yes and shes real)got me an acre on the moon this year for Christmas from the Lunar Registry, republic thing. Aside from it being cool...(they sent me a package with neat stuff to put in my office) do you thing it will hold any water in the future....from what I read..the guy sounds crazy but has a few points about claiming land on the moon..and some official documents. Any one have any thoughts on this...aside from the usual trolls about wasting money..blah blah... rob
...you are a Lunatic... :)
Ample references to the moon can be found in Mayan and Egyptian hieroglyphs, and Chinese writings. How old is the oldest reference? Probably about as old as the oldest reference to anything.
More mysterious is the Blue Moon.
How much can we trust the BBC's news reporting if they can't even spell program right.
Your reply to me only makes you look stupid since hate crimes post-9/11 have nothing to do with this discussion.
Christ...you're pathetic.
"Assuming it doesn't blow up on launch."
An uncalled for cheap shot. History records U.S. spacecrafts catching fire on the launch pad or blowing up after launch with dramatically painful human loss so what makes Arianne any worse? At least it didn't kill anybody yet...
and now I just need to find a way to get to Neptune.
und das ist alle fur jetz
I wonder if there will be hoax theories about this one before it launches. That would be something to see. I wonder what they would use for 'proof'?
And the l33t shall inherit the 34r7h.
Why?
Yeah yeah, I know cheap shot. But if you think about the purpose and outcome of most of those prior British explorations of the 18th century..
-
But on the subject of the euro; the problem with adding the euro is much more subtle than it appears.
If the UK gets the euro, then that means that there has to be a single bank throughout europe that controls the number of euros in distribution.
It also means that central control of interest rates is essential. That means that the interest rates are controlled centrally for the good of europe (i.e. probably by the Bundesbank; which constitutionally has to act for the good of Germany, rather than the good of Britain, or even Europe; since it is by far the biggest bank).
Since the economies of Germany and UK tend to do move in rather different ways, tying them together is going to cause some issues; as well as benefits. But it is honestly unclear to most people who have studied it in detail whether the benefits or the issues are going to dominate.
And this is putting issues of sovereignty to one side... there are lots of people with very firm opinions on that, to say the least.
Personally, I think we need to go for the euro, but I'm fairly nervous about it.
-WolfWithoutAClause
"Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"Sending people into space is a complete waste of money and resources at this point. We should take up manned missions when space is so cheap that it just doesn't make sense to send equipment up there without them.
It's fundamentally different now than in the 60s. In the 60s, space was a challenge -- sending men to the moon would be the greatest accomplishment in all history. We simply didn't know if it was possible or not.
But now? Big f'ing deal. Does anyone have any doubt that with enough time and money it's trivial to go to Mars? I mean, not "trivial", but certainly not a "grand question of mankind". It's just an engineering question at this point.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Biological humans need to take an entire pressurized environment with them. Very very inefficient.
I think we should stick to sending up economically efficient cybernetic devices. When humans graduate and are uploaded to computers, then we can zip around the solar system at a reasonable cost. Hopefully should happen within a few decades.
The Rosetta project just fascinates me.
;-)
The lander measures about 1 meter across, 80 cm in height. ESA scientists managed to cram 9 science instruments on board, weighing altogether not more than 21 kg. Earth sized versions of some of these instruments (for example: I believe there is a mass spectrometer on board) are as large as the lander itself, if not bigger.
Also think of the duration of this project. From designing, building the spacecraft, to 9 years flight time and the processing of science data afterwards certainly must be keeping some people occupied for perhaps 15 years. (Just think, suppose you can't get along with your manager for 15 years
For those of you who want to know more about Rosetta, check ESA's Rosetta website.
"Pow! Zoom!"
"One of these days, Alice!"
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
flamebait?
Considering that the french have taken sides with a terrorist and a madman over NATO? Gotta service those oilfields. Don't let the American companies in. That's more important than whether a suitcase nuke makes it into a NATO country right?
The europeans would do well to rid the planet of the french. Check history sites on the messes they started and embroiled everyone else into. Shall we start with Vietnam? Other areas? Perhaps history these days isn't relevant anymore.
We, the US of A, were the first to land people on the moon. We shouldn't have stopped going. And now, the technology used to take us there in the first place is the near equivalent to a pocket calculator. Why the hell aren't we going back?
There are plenty of reasons. Political BS, as Congressfolk just want to line their own pockets. Bumblin' Dubyah and his wannabe wars on Terrorism (not terror, can't have a war against an emotion) and his "you tried to kill my daddy" vendetta with Saddam. Economic breakdown in the wake of Enron and company (BTW, Bushie and Cheney have their hands in that, too). Lack of interest in the Space Program (thanks to all of the above, it can't get any press).
You conspiracy theroy nuts can go to hell. We went. We have the capability to go, stay, and colonize whether you want to believe it or not. That's what we should be doing: spearheading an international effort to get to the moon and establish a permanent human presence there. Once we get there, then we can worry about Mars.
Launching to Mars from the Moon would be cheaper, since the force needed to break the moon's gravity is alot less. The benefits of sitting on the moon extend to the "collision asteroid" alarmists, since we could watch for them from a nifty vantage point. With the ISS as a jump-off point, missions to the moon would go alot smoother (in theory, anyway) than the Apollo missions went.
This is going to sound totally chichè, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the moon is someplace we should be.
Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
How much did you donate to getting a space elevator built then? $zero? You could at least buy the book instead of just pontificating!
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Yah: roods, perches, pecks, puncheons, barleycorns, chains, seams, hundredweight, gill, minima, kips, kilderkins, sacks, kor, chenises and periots expressed in at least English, French, German, Belgian, Dutch, Russian, Spanish and Polish at every locus. On the upside, the OpenOffice.org document standard will be used for shipping all of this around.
The British do use light-nanoseconds, it's call `a foot'. (-:
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Not really.
First, there's no particular reason to pick the 18th century - most major British colonies were established in the 17th, and most economic development was in the 19th.
Second, the outcome (an empire) is irrelevant to a discussion about plans and motives. This is important when looking at British expansion, since the evidence for grand imperialist plans is surprisingly thin on the ground for the key periods. Rather, the pattern was a trading arrangement that morphed into an administration (India), or a colony that eventually managed to conflict with the indiginous population, so dragging in the mother country (Africa).
The pivotal year for British imperialism is often quoted as being 1857, when the Indian uprising occurred. Until then, India and other territories were controlled via a haphazard collection of treaties, usually in collusion with local maharajahs, chiefs and princes. After 1857, imperialism took hold in earnest, with much more control exerted from London, suppression of indiginous rights and imperialist 'management' schemes such as pan-African railroads.
With regard to enslavement, it should be fairly obvious that you can either capture slaves or buy them. In fact, nearly all slaves were bought - by European traders, from African merchants. Control of slavery was never a significant motive in British imperialism, and of course it was abolished in 1838, well before the empire peaked.
The brave men and women of the NSDF are already there in force.
when you can change yourself?
Kim stanley robinson's mars series portrays a successful terraformation, and how the first colonists mourn the loss of the red planet, even though they can now walk about without helmets.
Which leads me to ask, why not leave the planet looking and feeling much the same, but make plants and animals altered to survive the low pressures, cold, lack of a magnetosphere etc. Then make genetically modified humans to populate the place and go forth and subdue it.
In the whole history of life as we know it, life has always adapted to the environment. Why change the winning formula?
Also, to get slightly more on topic, it's interesting that the more famous explorations (finding the source of the Nile etc.) were effectively motivated and financed by an audience back home that had a fascination with exploration, with Africa and for adventure stories in general.
Henry Stanley was sent to find Dr Livingstone by James Gordon Bennett, the proprietor of the New York Herald. Other explorers enjoyed colossal book sales. One hopes that interest would be as great, and as lucrative, in future explorations.
Just to bring this back on topic.
"Yeah, like the Muslims will ever build a skyrocket."
The US will try to stop this attempt!!
The ESA Human spaceflight budget is a bit harder to pin down due to multi-year authorizations and various breakdowns, but appears to be about 1 billion euros for the four year period from 2002-2006, so roughly 250 million euros per year. Note from the link that the bulk of this figure is contributions to the ISS, not human spacecraft development.
Since the euro and dollar are roughly equivalent lately, at current levels the ESA would need to increase it's human spaceflight budget by 24X just to match NASA spending on the same. However, at that level, NASA isn't even vaguely contemplating a return to the Moon, much less going to Mars.
Given the current economic situation in Europe, I'd put the chance of any of this happening at just about zero.
When (if?) mankind finally returns to the moon, it will most likely be via a private company in some sort of for-profit venture. Unless there is some sort of new political goal to be gained, governments will not (and should not, IMHO) be part of the picture. Its just too damn expensive for taxpayers to stomach. - Necron69
However, if we'd understand how brains work and carry on intellectual and soul functions - then we don't need any brain. Just download my copy into central computer of any exploring device and I am ready to go. I won't need any oxygen and I'll be very tolerant to any temperature and pressure. But keep my backup copy at some safe place or I'll sue you!
Less is more !
Then I'll be impressed.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
Article states Europeans will reach a decision as soon as 2015. NASA is a disfunctional flawed organization but it some how, on the backs of damn good geeks, keeps sqeaking out successes. We'll be the only country in space for another decade or so. Then China and Japan will be full-up players in spce and we'll have serious competition again. I live in Europe due to my job. I just don't think these nice folks will be kicking any butt any time soon.
Something having to do with Soviets getting out of Afghanistan? You remember, those protests about the soviets not getting out...
The cold war...you remember, the one where Ronnie kicked ass and took no prisoners...brought the evil empire to its knees by their own admission, governmental admission (yeltsin, gorbachov, dozens of generals, men in the street, teenagers, pundits back in US, analysts in US and abroad (not counting the neo-pundits)...shoved long range and medium range missiles down the throats of eurotrash until the soviets puked enough and cried uncle!
Too bad the neo-leftists back in the US congress at the time went on a domestic spending bonanza which broke their agreement with Ronnie not to overspend on the domestic side.
And too bad liar turned down vaseline osama when he was offered to us on a silver platter. But that was the best you could expect from liar.
But vaseline osama will be dealt with. And it will be schweet.
As sweet as johnny jihad was to osama
The last Tory government and the current Labour(?) one only seem to think that there is one industry in Great Britain, the Financial Services.
Manufacturing has been sacrificed to feed the bankers. As a result we have seen an increase in the number of accountants and MBAs coming out of our universities, but a phenomenal drop in the number of engineers and scientists.
It is not just the sciences that have suffered. Any course that is not seen to have an immediate payback is at risk. This is not just a student loans issue, it is part of the creeping corporatism that seems to be affecting most of the West. The attitude that nothing is worth doing unless it makes a profit within 18 months blights any long term view.
Makes me wonder why Bill, Scott, Larry etc haven't jumped at the chance. Money by the Energiafull would seem to be right up their collective alleys.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
And that's why they're practicing by melting EARTH's polar icecaps first???
How about naming a currency unit like a weight unit :P.
If I were intelliforming myself, I would make at least one of my bodies capable of mining, or at least doing complex fabrication operations. Any explorers need to be able to at least heal themselves, and optimally be able to reproduce unaided, using just the indegenous materials.
Which then begs the question: if you have a reproducing robot, is it just another form of life?
intelliforming and bioforming may simply be two paths to the same thing.
Robotic exploration seems to make much more sense, but in terms of scientific results (you can explore more with robots because it is cheaper), with regard to commercial potential (again, robots are cheaper, thus likely to be useful for later profitable space enterprises), and with regard to generally useful technological development.
Eventually humans should return to the Moon and reach Mars, but let the robots pawe the road for us first.
For all of you who posted back, I welcome you to slashdot.
Some American: "Hey guys, can we, like, uh, catch a ride to the moon, dude?"
Pilot: "Go away, you filthy swine!"
Some Other American: "Don't bother with them. I got on once. The food is great, but the service just plain sucks... and its all in some dead language. Let's go try flying standby on the German one with the hot chicks."
But then what does one expect from a mindless bigot such as yourself? I'll be glad when scum like you no longer exist--the world will be a better place.
Or perhaps we should just keep a few of you around in the zoo as an example of what pre-evolved humans were like. "Mommy, what's that ugly-looking thing in the cage wallowing in it's own feces? It's not a monkey, is it?"
It also means that central control of interest rates is essential. That means that the interest rates are controlled centrally for the good of europe (i.e. probably by the Bundesbank; which constitutionally has to act for the good of Germany, rather than the good of Britain, or even Europe; since it is by far the biggest bank).
The interest rates in the Eurozone are NOT controlled by any bank related to a member state. They are controlled by the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, but are in NO way related to the Bundesbank.
The ECB is free to make their own decisions about interest rates. In the last 12 months the ECB has cut interest rates much less than the Fed in the USA.
...of this off-topic crap. I think everyone is tried of it.
Can you quit?
The fiscal reality is also that times change and with it costs. To buy a system capible of running Windows XP in 1996 (128mb ram, Pentium Pro 200, monster SCSI hdd) would've set you back by more megabucks than some cars, not to mention nothing as good as Windows XP had been developed by Microsoft yet.
Prices for doing this sort of thing are going to drop in the future. Nobody bar the Chinese government has both the money plus will to commit to manned space-flight to Mars under the current pricetags. But ESA knows that when the EU is bigger and expenses lower, they may just be able to persuade the ministers to provide funding.