Slashdot Mirror
No More Science on the ISS Until Further Notice
Dyna-Soar writes "Discovery Channel News is reporting that NASA is canceling scientific research projects on the International Space Station until construction is complete. This may not happen before 2010 or 2012." From the article: "In addition to beginning development of a new manned launch system, expenses to return the shuttle fleet to flight following the 2003 Columbia disaster and delays completing the International Space Station have left NASA with a projected shortfall of up to $5 billion over the next five years"
HELLO WORLD
50040 50040
HELLO WORLD
05545 05545 14396 14396 40254 40254 25487 25487 85249 85249
97161 97161 81749 81749 51684 51684 86529 86529 06829 06829
66730 66730 97356 97356 96159 96159 44100 44100 35067 35067
10263 10263 94613 94613 96692 96692 28322 28322 12109 12109
56576 56576 57284 57284 28282 28282 76281 76281 51522 51522
92801 92801 48082 48082 04919 04919 38096 38096 17868 17868
96804 96804 87563 87563 47373 47373 29632 29632 01955 01955
36972 36972 89371 89371 21949 21949 13683 13683 56321 56321
40912 40912 14320 14320 50985 50985 00764 00764 68262 68262
83943 83943 37363 37363 42550 42550 01156 01156 61863 61863
84644 84644 99506 99506 81795 81795 80437 80437 49922 49922
52682 52682 99565 99565 37712 37712 36983 36983 36202 36202
65755 65755 06020 06020 50082 50082 18886 18886 32543 32543
50472 50472 73213 73213 54383 54383 24884 24884 12186 12186
72968 72968 59514 59514 48177 48177 25543 25543 12920 12920
94084 94084 55969 55969 83736 83736 71103 71103 99679 99679
59761 59761 13323 13323 43359 43359 78923 78923 02110 02110
77326 77326 94338 94338 39690 39690 32986 32986 48608 48608
33333 33333 47334 47334 92450 92450 16275 16275 64348 64348
24273 24273 97164 97164 21619 21619 12719 12719 51759 51759
33935 33935 98792 98792 13524 13524 54475 54475 44417 44417
92727 92727 82083 82083 26597 26597 86970 86970 79799 79799
81558 81558 64263 64263 11427 11427 02018 02018 34212 34212
35894 35894 76027 76027 06071 06071 26055 26055 23469 23469
35179 35179 62381 62381 55021 55021 93434 93434 53533 53533
48676 48676 55419 55419 55250 55250 33567 33567 89371 89371
09128 09128 74282 74282 61289 61289 62931 62931 87677 87677
31264 31264 95417 95417 05265 05265 25826 25826 02922 02922
62502 62502 31218 31218 21234 21234 01419 01419 94172 94172
01145 01145 04165 04165 62513 62513 18312 18312 72389 72389
50359 50359 48333 48333 27666 27666 43362 43362 77890 77890
59880 59880 99272 99272 09533 09533 04597 04597 28370 28370
30468 30468 40469 40469 81772 81772 14749 14749 25425 25425
70573 70573 76517 76517 37598 37598 69131 69131 98724 98724
75204 75204 87437 87437 51647 51647 82731 82731 54279 54279
65522 65522 08925 08925 11652 11652 34037 34037 96036 96036
85353 85353 96040 96040 13859 13859 53454 53454 59530 59530
32606 32606 76255 76255 79084 79084 44431 44431 49453 49453
29734 29734 88084 88084 43365 43365 07735 07735 02668 02668
47976 47976 71709 71709 75998 75998 91755 91755 25761 25761
08162 08162 28793 28793 13144 13144 34714 34714 32766 32766
11168 11168 49405 49405 21318 21318 23064 23064 57328 57328
79093 79093 61844 61844 05060 05060 55627 55627 29081 29081
62961 62961 80309 80309 05411 05411 53488 53488 05659 05659
23413 23413 15987 15987 21218 21218 14270 14270 70225 70225
29987 29987 19409 19409 30440 30440 74028 74028 88906 88906
19891 19891 51427 51427 31090 31090 27940 27940 59774 59774
89267 89267 67442 67442 92414 92414 53788 53788 73038 73038
19347 19347 45840 45840 11371 11371 44288 44288 85673 85673
60402 60402 03891 03891 06420 06420 48210 48210 90819 90819
24509 24509 50342 50342 61687 61687 46538 46538 71916 71916
16902 16902 50683 50683 93460 93460 49305 49305 28896 28896
10619 10619 70960 70960 09312 09312 52280 52280 68404 68404
09912 09912 19574 19574 22087 22087 10500 10500 21894 21894
56191 56191 86789 86789 88851 88851 97059 97059 52030 52030
97862 97862 29502 29502 71479 71479 57374 57374 21296 21296
01143 01143 69638 69638 36194 36194 46462 46462 53381 53381
98018 98018 43411 43411 11771 11771 16152 16152 00174 00174
32773 32773 40288 40288 08473 08473 28223 28223 38694 38694
03741 03741 14691 14691 74478 74478 39879 39879 83246 83246
74510 74510 13131 13131 10481 10481 76749 76749 12638 12638
48752 48752 15835 15835 54190 54190 12217 12217 22926 22926
86219 86219 38250 38250 65763 65763
K-BYE
If only congress could get the hint and stop castrating Nasa...
Why bother finising the ISS if you are not going to use it to increase scientific knowlegde. I guess filling the pockets of the contractors is the real reason for the ISS, not science.
quis custodiet ipsos custodes
They might as well evacuate the crew and conduct a little SDI test on this money-sucking white elephant.
You'll all probably mod me down for this, but I actually this is a good move on NASA's part. We all realize the purpose of the space station is to provide scientific research, but in light of recent problems plaguing the shuttle program, the safety of the astronauts should be the foremost consideration. Not much point in moving into an appartment building until its been built, and the same thing applies to an orbiting piece of metal.
Considering the ISS hasn't produced any scientific results worthy of the name, I don't regard this as any great loss. I'd even go so far as to call it anti-scientific - the one thing the ISS has managed to do is strangle funding for telescopes and rovers that that might send back actual data. The ISS hasn't sent back anything more interesting than a bit more footage of astronauts chasing globules of tang.
Imagine what the station could have been like if our government hadn't wasted that $300 billion dollars bombing the shit out of another nation based on lies about invisible weapons of mass destruction.
Its funny how we can always come up with money to kill, but there's never enough money for science.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
There are two types of critics of the US space program - the ones who criticize them for the horrible decisions they have been making for the last 30 years (starting with decision to go ahead with the STS system) and hte ones who think the whole thing is a waste of money and should be cancelled. The problem is that when the former group speak out, they give the latter group all the ammunition they could want.
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
I think there will be hotels in space befor they finaly finnish the ISS. ISS will be renamed I-DSS and used to house the minimum wage cleaners for the hotels.
Seriously though, people in a space station are very expensive in the long run and although they provide fascility for micro-gravity research ect alot of this could be achived with and un-maned drone.
People on the moon however I think is a much better idea as with a few basic supplies it could become self sufficiant what with all the free water and an ample back yard to stick solar pannels, make hydrogen fuel and grow food stuffs. Plus the added bonus of hulking great lumps of rock to shield from radiation.
In the not too distant future, next Sunday A.D.
The correct headline should be "No More US Science on the ISS". Other ISS participants (Russians, Europeans, etc.) are very likely to conduct scientific experiments, even if limited.
This is just the Bush adinistration trying to go one up on Clinton with the ISS, also to try beat the Chinese back to the moon.
bæ8Ã0sÃOE?5r©oÂÃ?âz:ÃÃAÃ?ÃOEÂ6fXÃ?]Â
...is the most expensive toilet in the solar system.
I mean, seriously, with no research going on and barely any construction between now and 2012, all you have is a group of people eating and shitting, no?
I'm glad to see my tax dollars aren't being wasted on something trivial like curing cancer or developing safe, inexpensive, practical sources of energy.
...is of course the "I" part. The alleged lack of science is only a scapegoat (of course it doesn't produce science, since it's only supported half-heartedly). But with the "I" part they can't stroke their jingoistic ego.
So they'd rather waste their money on killing a bunch of sand-niggers because that makes them oh-so-much superior and everyone is only thankful for beeing converted to their superior way of life even if it means being killed like an animal.
They all volunteered and worked hard to get into that (astronaut) program. Who are you to tell them they can't take the risk? (jeesh more NASCAR drivers have died than astronauts) Heck let's post the risk factor on a display each time and let them go for it. They can quit if they want. Not that I am advocating wasting perfectly good astronauts but once we finish blowing up the rest of the shuttles maybe we can get serious about a real space launch vehicle.
>You'll all probably mod me down for this, but I actually this is a good move on NASA's
>part. We all realize the purpose of the space station is to provide scientific research,
>but in light of recent problems plaguing the shuttle program, the safety of the astronauts
>should be the foremost consideration. Not much point in moving into an appartment building
>until its been built, and the same thing applies to an orbiting piece of metal.
NASA could always charge for experiments to be conducted. Plenty of R&D groups would pay up if it were reasonable, and everyone benefits.
What they really want is to cancel the ISS. It's more acceptable to announce the cancellation only in 2010, when people have mostly forgotten the money that was spent on this.
With China wanting to start building a moon base in 2017, there is a chance that NASA will live. If they could just have spend the enormous budget which is available for war, we would have had a deathstar circling the sun by now.
P.S. The deathstar idea is to keep inline with the most likely project which would make it through the Bush administration.
My wife's sketchblog Blob[p]: Gastrono-me
...if you take building the ISS as a goal.
But frankly, why would you? ISS isn't a step forward to anywhere. It doesn't do anything much other than "showcase international cooperation". The science it was doing was of the "train ants to sort tiny screws in space" variety. Even the Wikipedia article can't muster much definitive purpose, beyond the usual vague claim of technical spin-offs.
They should either decide that it's a tool for a task, redesign and build towards that, or de-orbit the whole junkpile into the nearest ocean. To carry on building for the sake of mere inertia would be nuts.
Now we will never know whether ants can sort tiny screws in zero-g.
Hey, Golden Palace Casino...
I don't think there's any orbital gambling laws in place.
Why don't you all just be good folks and build us all a Floating Space Casino.
Who gives a rat about NASA science projects when all we really need is booze and floating space strippers? I bet Space Vegas would finally make us an intergalactic empire!
A quick search on arxiv.org for 'International Space Station' yields four papers.
For comparison, a search for 'Hubble Space Telescope' gives over 200 papers.
Not a definitive result, but it seems to indicate that there's not much science being done anyway.
There is no more science on the ISS because it has been superceded by superior methods and worldviews. Now only Intelligent Design will be studied there. ISS will now stand for "Intelligent Space Station."
... was as a welfare program for underemployed Soviet rocket scientists.
After all, the US developed its own ballistic missile technology with the help of recently-unemployed German rocket scientists, and that actually worked out pretty well from an effectiveness standpoint. So with the fall of Communism, it seemed like a good idea to give the erstwhile bad guys something to do besides designing weapons.
Make no mistake, that is all the ISS was ever going to be good for. It performs no scientific role that either couldn't be handled more economically by longer-duration Shuttle flights and robotic spacecraft, or wasn't already handled by Skylab and Soyuz.
If the goal is to kill it, then why keep spending the money on construction if it's never going to be finished?
:-)
I'd say cut your losses, mothball it now and spend the money on robotic missions to Europa, a prototype asteroid mining mission that actually produces real product (e.g. water for reaction mass), orbiters for Uranus and Neptune, advanced nuclear (ooh, the n-word!) propulsion systems so that deep space missions that don't take decades, and actually get some science done.
I guess it's all a bit moot, though, since by 2020 everyone will be buying elevator tickets from Liftport instead...
Sean Ellis
Follow OfQuack's antics on Twitter.
The idea of doing science at a tourist resort is ridiculous anyway.
Lisp is the Tengwar of programming languages.
Are you sure about "free water"? Last I checked, any significant amount of water on the Moon was still just a hypothesis. Apollo astronauts found none, the Lunar Prospector found none, and the best bet seems to be that it might exist in some of the shaded craters near the poles.
This is quite important, because transporting water to the Moon (from Earth at least) is likely to be very expensive. In the longer term, chances are it would have to be extracted from the Moon somehow if it's there, or obtainted from somewhere else.
i was not a great discocery to bring fresh fruit ... on a ship sailing around ... ... but nothing :P i mean didn't the japanese have some
on board a ship in Columbuses times, just
like it wasn't much of a "discovery" to bring
lemon tress, etc
the globe
my guess is that the ISS has made many small
but important "discoveries" for future
long duration manned space flights
bill board worth like "cure to cancer discovered
on ISS"
neat-o material research in zero-g with results?!
:P
"I'm afraid I can't let you conduct your experiments here, Dave."
Back before we had space stations, Science Fiction always visualized them as a way point for other destinations rather than just for research. Seems scientific research alone can't justify the enormous expense involved, and that the concept of a space station as a jumping off point is not often considered as necessary.
I would like to offer an alternative to completing the ISS, and Pres. Bush's "Moon, Mars, and beyond". How about we make "The Search for Life" the priority instead? For the price of the ISS, we could have had rovers on all the planetary bodies where there is even a remote chance of finding life, and sample return missions as well. The ISS can be used as is, as a quarantine for the returning samples. Put manned exploration on the back burner for now. At the rate technology is always advancing, when we get back to doing manned missions someday, we will have - who knows - space elevators or whatever to make the job much easier. The advantage of the focus as I propose is that it doesn't call for some mega-construction with mega-funding and attendant mega-bureaucracy. By it's nature, it's done in small steps like NASA's "Smaller, cheaper, faster" missions. Just imagine little rovers on the ground, and rovers in the air, all over the Solar System? Scientists will access and guide them via the Internet. Every university in the world will participate. I think it's a good bet were are going to find some microbes somewhere. Even if we don't, we will have learned a tremendous amount of planetary sciences along the way, much more than we ever would as things stand.
what's the news in that?
Seriously, there has been very little science accomplished on the ISS, at least relative to the enormous amounts of money it has consumed.
1. No more science to be done on the ISS. Who noticed? When compared to the Hubble, where is the outcry from the scientific community?
2. If there's no science to be done on the ISS, why is it manned?
3. If it shouldn't be manned and there's no science to be done, why is it there?
It's a matter of time before there's a Survivor: International Space Station, where the losers get flung out of the hatch and make their own way back by hitching a ride on the next Soyuz.
Tubby or not tubby. Fat is the question
With "Science" out of the way, that clears the way to complete construction on the ISS and clearly the ISS is too complex to have evolved in place (and we have found no space "creatures" that show intermediate steps), so clearly the ISS is the result of Intelligent Design.
Game Set Match.
Kansas wins!
Clearly it will be converted to DoD R+D work, aka 'black' projects. The administration has never made a secret of their desire to militarize space.
Houston: New rules crew, no more sex in space.
Crew: YOu're breaking up Houston, repeat last transmission.
Houston: New rules crew, no more science or sex in space.
Crew: Roger that Houston, no more science in space. What was that about sex?
Houston: Repeat, no more sex or science in space!
Crew: But... Ok. BTW, Is Red Dwarf still ok to watch?
Gotta spend so much time and effort maintaining it, there's hardly any time left to actually use it for what it was intended!
This is a public ploy by NASA to garner public support and get more money from Congress.
I've tried confirming this story on Google... I see a space probe mission or two cancelled, and some evidence that science operations on station are being somewhat neglected, but nothing as wildly improbable as a total cancellation of payload science operations on the ISS.
TFA seems to misinterpret the administrator's comments before Congress. He speaks of suspending NASA's own research projects in life science and nuclear propulsion.... the kind of cutting edge stuff needed for 9-month trips to Mars (or having the speed to reduce that to a more manageable timeframe).
(It's never too late to join the Renaissance)
I'd like to put in my 2c.
First of all, I'm affected by this because our company experienced some pretty hefty layoffs due to some science cuts at Ames. We had two projects cut prematurely: one that was probably near 90% complete and another just over 50% complete.
Here's my problem with what NASA did: Say what you want about whether NASA should have built the ISS. It was their decision. The issue arises when NASA makes the decision to build the ISS, then years later in the middle of the build, simply quits. Make a decision and stick with it, NASA. Had you completed the ISS, all that money would not have been lost. Had you never started the ISS, all that money would not have been lost. In your current situation, you have royally screwed yourselves.
Go Space Privatization!
IWARS.
People, in general, disappoint me. Politicians even more so.
SO I guess the only way to get funding is to say..ZOMG there is WMD on the ISS !!! Quick let's launch a war !! Spend lots of $$$ I guess Hive cities are next, cause if we don't get off this rock, we are going to be hosed.
Guns are for wimps... Use a crossbow.. this way you can pin them to their chair when you go postal.
From morfik.com (on the index, first blurb):
;) Or possibly 20% kicking tires with other geeks, 10% cursing the clients, and 60% maintenance), i feel with JS it's 1%.
"Morfik offers ground-breaking Javascript Synthesis Technology ('JST') that allows developers to use a visual design environment and a high-level language of their choice to create applications comprised purely of HTML and Javascript"
Is this really going to sell developers on the concept? I develop web applications, and I don't know about the rest of my peer developers, but... I actually go to a length to AVOID javascript, don't you? Javascript tends to just gives me more cross browser issues. My paradigm is -- "do it all on the server side".
On the flip side of the coin there are some interesting contemporary uses of javascript / DHTML (e.g. gmail).
But, I choose to avoid JS... There's the old saying "Developing an application takes only 10% of a project's time" (The other 90% is maintenance if you weren't sure
I'm tired of hearing things like "we can't afford NASA" when we can clearly afford HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of dollars blowing people to bits in foreign countries. Hell, we've gone from a 5 Trillion dollar surplus to a projected deficit of 12 Trillion (dubya's projected deficit when leaving office) in just 8 years (a total of 17-18 TRILLION dollars)... What's another 5 Billion? I mean, I recognize that we have to watch where our Billions go when it isn't being given to Halliburton in no-bid contracts, but other than that we should scrutinize every penny! I sure miss the innocent days of $800 hammers. Remember, it's important to have corporate kick-backs and welfare, the Bush Administration just wants to make sure that no money is spent on that there learnin' or science n stuff. Might piss off the extreme fundamentalist Christian terrorists and their crazy ideology in THIS country... They'll have to move from blowing up the soon-to-be closed abortion clinics (thanks Alito!) to blowing up those crazy NASA centers of knowledge. It won't be long now, and Halliburton will be awarded the no-bid contract to build a $3 Trillion Dollar replica of the Ten Commandments to be placed in the White House! I'm so glad that "honor and integrity have been restored to the White House."
For the good of all man kind.. Give nasa the 5billion.. With a Debt in the trillions what's another 5 billion? Chump change.
That was one of the most insightful posts I've read lately.
/. reads like a bunch of luddites complaining and it's getting old. So if any of those actually support an, over time, increasing human presence in space they should get out of their "old grumpy man" act. To put it in a simple way the astronauts sent to ISS are themselves the biggest experiment and the most important one (and if anyone thinks that could be done on earths surface they've reached rock bottom - pun not intended). The ISS serves as a real testbed for hands on technology concerned with keeping humans alive in space for prolonged periods and with increased efficiency and reliability. Yes, it has the potential to be much more over time, personally I hope that at some point in the future when we are actually ready to do so its orbit can be boosted to GEO, but that is of course a long way off and money is actually the least objection to doing it right away: we don't presently have the requisite technology at a sufficient level to make it worthwhile, not even close.
/. doesn't actually contain many readers that seem to be aware of how incrementally and tediously science normally progresses. Many seem to think that science progresses like the technology tree in some C&C-like game and /. is filled with people who think it more important to criticize NASA (or Burt Rutan or anyone else actually trying to do something it seems) than to actually say something enlightened (!=rehashed bickering). I guess we can all blame the armchair for that :)
/. has much clout either politically and scientifically and the ranting doesn't actually affect much except the /. "image".
_ 050818.html
/. lol
For those who, like me, actually support humans in space almost all comments regarding space on
And so what if the ISS program was used for more than just its face value of space science? Why is that such a horror? Isn't it actually better to employ people in science that benefits us than let them languish and in likelihood be employed against us?
For being a supposed "Nerd" site
Anyway I'm not worried as I doubt anyone on
Recommended reading:
http://www.space.com/adastra/adastra_hustle_part1
The danger of that link of course is that it will shame people into shutting up.... what am I saying? this is
this comment is provided "as is" and without any express or implied legibility or congruity [...]
As we've seen by comparing NASA to companies like SpaceX, we can obviously do better with a commercial entity running interplanetary exploration and scientific endeavors. I would like to formally announce my new company dedicated to aerospace and biological research, Union Aerospace Corporation.
Now hiring scientists and Space Marines.
The Russian Mafia will mod you down just to see if the Moderate button works.
All I saw in the article is that NASA won't be funding any of its own research. To me, that just means there will be room open on the ISS for educational institutions to put experiments into microgravity. Heck, NASA could even license their "research space" to commercial entities. I see a lot of people assuming that because the government won't be spending money on research that it won't happen. I think it will continue to happen, and NASA might even make some money out of it.
But it's hard to play roulette or craps in microgravity... I mean, you could velcro your chips to the table to place your bet, but what happens to the dice or the ball?
---GEC
I'm but the humble pupil, seeking to snatch the scratchbuilt pebble from the master's fully articulated hand
"No More Science on the ISS Until Further Notice" - but intelligent intelligent design is good to go?
Seriously, does this mean that time travel, space elevators, cold fusion, zero point energy, and slashdotters contributing to the human gene pool - all this can happen on the space station - because there is no science there?
No really,seriously. They could have made that announcement when they launched it. We've got more science out of the war in Iraq - for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Also, do you think Saddam had a thing for nuclear and biological scientists? Recruited them just for fun? The real reason is Bush cut off the oil for food embezzlement that France, Germany and Russia was enjoying. That is what all the anti-war stuff is about. Supporting terrorism. Terrorism that is biting France right now, in flames. Some think that France will fall soon. We'll see. Maybe they will ask Germany or Britain to help them.
By the way, it isn't funny the military gets more money than science. Being a scientist I know all about that. If we just had some nice young skirts to send down to Congress to woo them, we could get a lot more money. Geeks don't get funded as well as the macho soldier boys. The unfortunate part is even if we make new advances, the military often takes those advances and uses them to kill people. They even use non-lethal weapons to drive people out to where they can shoot them.
I do know there are those that say the WMDs were not moved to Syria. Those same people are at a loss to explain why there is truck tracks from those suspected sites to Syria. No tracks show up for years before that, then all of a sudden? Seems like only a fool would believe they weren't moved, unless they can show they moved something else. How about it, do any slashdotters know of why those truck tracks from obviously heavy trucks showed up from December to just before the invasion? Truck track fairy maybe? There are pictures of places that show up at the same time in Syria where it is obvious something was burried.
Not trying to be flame bait here. So don't flame. If you know of something that definitively shows they were moved, respond. Same thing if you have something that shows definitively they were not moved respond as well. Note - Newspaper articles don't count as definitive proof. I don't want propaganda either way. Just the facts (play Dragnet tune).
This is the same tactic that NASA has pulled a number of times. It has always worked. Hopefully, it will work here.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
The Saturn V used liquid-fuelled rocket engines, which took hours to fuel. Beginning with Polaris and Minuteman I, all military rockets were solid fuelled, for ease of storage and fast launch time. The technologies almost could not be more divergent. So, how is one a cover for the other?
The clearance system sounds logical. It is not. It is completely arbitrary. -- John Bolton
The money had to come from somewhere. Nasa can't afford to work on manned missions, fix the shuttle, AND keep going with science on the space station. What worries me is that the manned missions will suddenly lose funding as well- mainly because of the costs that ISS has incurred.
The whole point of ISS is that discoveries made on it will be available to the public. If companies paid for research, they would own the results of that research and it would become proprietary, intellectional property and no one outside the companies owning the results could invent products based on the research. Thereby defeating the purpose of spending tax payer dollars in the first place.
There's always strings attached to money.
Well, The dictator has been removed from power. There are other nations who have killed their own citizens by the thousands. Iraq hasn't harbored terrorists since the 1970s, there were no Iraqis on the planes that hit the WTC and Pentagon. I don't recall Iraq (or Saddam) bragging about the existence of WMD's nor their plan to use them on the US(that is to say, in the weeks leading up to the invasion). I believe it was Colin Powell (and other WH officials) doing the bragging. We have an administration that appeared to be scheming to invade before Sept. 11, 2001. We have a nation with lots of oil, the extraction of which was run by non-US oil companies (French and Russian, I believe) We have an energy "task force" meeting with the VP, the minutes of which are secret.
It is also economically profitable to deny your competitors of resources, and to provide them through your own companies. This is why we prop up The House of Saud. It is in our interests to keep Saudi oil flowing because the US has a 49% stake in the oil business there. The terrorists on the planes that fateful day were mostly Saudi. How many Iraqi civilians have we killed? I don't know, but I would guess it is more than the approximately 3000 americans who died on 9/11. Hell, we are two thirds there with the number of troops that have been killed (On the US side, that is). We have an administration that has lied to the citizens of this democracy of ours. Tell me again what our purpose is? Usama has said that he wants the infedels out of Saudi. We left Saudi, and invaded Iraq. Who's side is Bush on? I'm beginning to wonder. And I recall that most people in the Middle East have always been wanting to get rid of Israel. The Iranians have STFU because they see a crazy person in the WH with his finger near the button. Smart those Iranians. It is one thing for you opponent to shout "death to America" and it is quite another to actually try and do it. The Iranians have been victims of US interference for a long time. I dare say that they have reason to chant. And how many times have you heard "nuke their ass, take their gas"? There are loonies everywhere. You have been lied to. And you ate it up. Saddam and his government were evil. Their military was already smashed. The insurgents are following the playbook of Sun Tzu. I'm not seeing any good news coming out of Iraq. Unless you count the progress of the puppet government.
seriously, do the level of research on space colonization that a high school student would be equipped to do. its NOT HAPPENING. stop watching star trek. this is where we live and we will always live. there is nowhere for us to go where we can live without a massive external support system. asking us to research interstellar travel is like asking a caveman to research the manufacture of plasma televisions. stop watching star trek.
Next up: A Faith based moon landing, and then on to Mars, God willing!
Since all their time was spent just keeping the station afloat, it wouldn't be suprising if all the science was formally abandonned. This article is based on the cancellation of one experiment due to lack of supplies. That one experiment was probably all they had time to do between paddling.
A casino in a huge dirigible would be fantastic.
Bah, we can destroy all the guns as soon as you make the Saudi Arabias, Irans, North Koreas, and Chinas of the world disappear. If the entire would looked like the EU, Japan, South Korea, and the US, I bet the number of guns in the world would drop like a rock. The reality is that the world is full of strongmen and people more then happy to pick up a gun and enforce their will upon others, and the only defense against that is to have guns of your own. Kuwait didn't have enough guns. Bosnia didn't have enough guns. South Korea didn't have enough guns (though thankfully they knew someone who did). France didn't have enough guns. Poland didn't have enough guns. The list is endless. There is a damn good reason why nations load up on guns, and a quick glance at history reveals why.
It is easy to sit in your cozy chair in Europe or the US and declare that alls we need to do is drop the guns and love each other. Park your ass up and head to South Korea on the border with North Korea, THEN tell me we don't need guns and I'll be impressed.
I know it is hard to deal with the loss of your own (or friends) jobs. However step back a little. The money already spent is a sunk cost, we cannot get it back, so it does not enter into calculations. We have to look at the benefits of continuing. Sometimes the situation changes and it isn't worth spending more money on something 90% done.
As a hypothetical example, if you were building a bridge to an island, and the water level raises, enough to put the island underwater, would you continue to build the bridge because you are almost done? I know that I would leave it going nowhere, or even tear it down, even though it was almost done.
Now I cannot evaluate the science of those projects.