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NASA Builds a Cheap Standardized Space Probe

Posted by samzenpus on from the now-featuring-walls dept.

TangAddict writes "Dr. Alan Weston, who previously invented bungee jumping, led a team of scientists at NASA Ames Research Center to build a $4 million spacecraft in less than two years. The Modular Common Spacecraft Bus is designed to accept payloads of up to 50kg. and can be used for a variety of missions including a rendezvous with asteroids, orbiting Earth or Mars, and landing on the moon. When NASA officials saw the first flight test, they offered Weston and his team $80 million to use their design for the LADEE mission, which will gather dust and atmosphere samples from the moon in 2011."

6 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Is it big enough for a dead Vulcan to fit in? by infonography · · Score: 5, Funny

    I was just asking.

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  2. Pandaemonium by The+Late+BP+Helium · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is the first time I've heard of technology that's DESIGNED to gather dust. Usually that just happens by accident.

    1. Re:Pandaemonium by turing_m · · Score: 4, Funny

      All technology is designed to gather dust... eventually. It's called 'functional obsolescence'. The breakthrough development that separates this technology from previous technologies (such as the C64 in your attic and the 64MB thumb drive lodged somewhere behind your monitor) is that this gathers dust right away. Since this gathers dust virtually immediately, you can theoretically sell dust gatherers to consumers at a vastly increased rate.

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  3. Two words: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Seriously, why didn't they start with this like 20 years ago? Basic platform with propulsion, power and communication, with a few slots for special equipment, like cameras, radars, sample collection, or whatever is needed for that probe? Gentoo users.
  4. Re:$4 million to make it work... by pipatron · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yes, obviously, because no matter what anyone else claims, the US of A is naturally the best. The scientists in Russia was of course FORCED to work, and the scientists in USA were happy to do it! And yeah well, maybe some other countries are technically better, but that's because USA didn't want to be better. And also it only looks like they are better, but they did it in the wrong way, and if USA would have done it the same way, USA would have been even better!

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  5. Is it spherical? by Comboman · · Score: 3, Funny

    I hope the probe is spherical, because a globe-shaped space device designed to suck up dust would logically be called ... a Dyson Sphere.

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