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NASA Considers Privatizing GALEX Astrophysics Satellite
hogghogg writes "The GALEX spacecraft (surveying the Universe in ultraviolet wavelengths at which the atmosphere is close to opaque) is coming to the end of its budget life, but it hasn't finished imaging the entire sky and is still (fairly) functional. A group at Caltech wants to keep it running, so NASA is considering transfer of ownership under the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act, which 'allows the transfer of government-owned excess research equipment to educational institutions and non-profit organizations.' Many NASA missions are terminated for budget reasons at the end of a prescribed period, even while the hardware is still highly functional. Although this is the first-ever transfer from NASA of a functioning satellite, maybe this is just the start for a class of privately run astronomical and Earth-observing facilities in space?"
That's awesome!
It's a win win situation.
Win 1. It gets NASA some money. Compared to no money at all, that's a win.
Win 2. It gets a university or other institute a fantastic toy for a bargain price. Compared to a new satellite, that's a win.
It's a lose lose situation: 1) Scientists worldwide become dependent upon private initiatives; we have seen with European universities having to collect so-called 3rd-party funding what that does to research levels 2) In the long run, it causes NASA to lose ( even more ) competence; competence and know-how loss at NASA is already going on at a dishearteningly rate
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
....under the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act, which 'allows the transfer of government-owned excess research equipment to educational institutions and non-profit organizations.
I am going to start a nonprofit and buy Spirit and Opportunity. See my crowdtilt and kickstarter projects to donate :-).
In all seriousness, this is a good idea to keep NASA tools going. I like it.
Silence is a state of mime.
On the face of it, this seems like a common sense piece of legislation that benefits everyone and not just the corporations.
How the fuck did that happen?
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
The budget for human space flight is more than thrice that for science. NASA is going to spend over $20B on the "new" SLS system for two launches through 2020. NASA must withdraw from two joint Mars missions with ESA because its science budget is being cut $300M and the Webb telescope went over budget. The fact that Webb went over budget because Congress didn't provide timely funding is rarely mentioned; Congress simply blames the agency.
Thank goodness we have laws that prevent us from selling satellites to private entities. They might use it to turn a profit and buy a CEO a jet, yacht, or something similar.
Anyone know when the International Space Station goes up for sale?
Just need to work on how to get there.
If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
so you create stuff with people's money, and then just transfer it to private parties to make profit or not make profit - in the end, essentially relinquishing all control of something that was made with PUBLIC money to some PRIVATE entity. therefore, basically letting go of people's control on something made with people's own money.
Aaah capitalism.
Read radical news here
"maybe this is just the start for a class of privately run astronomical and Earth-observing facilities in space?"
- If a university or a national research body (not necessarily in USA, somewhere in Europe, or India, or China or whereever) "bought" the satellite, would this be something novel? Do universities or other non-government research units own satellites? If so, it might not be big news....
On the other hand, if Google/Elsevier Publications/Microsoft buy it and start charging university researchers for access to data, maybe this would be news. Is this a likely scenario?
I'd love to hear from astronomers who work with this kind of data and might have some informed opinions on how this is likely to go....
Caltech operates a federal lab, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, and receives federal money to do so. The Institute ("Universtiy") is run from that source of funding.
Privatization didn't work that well when NOAA was forced to privatize the Landsat satellite data to EOSAT/Space Imaging. .
"GET / HTTP/1.0" 200 51230 "-" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; Setec Astronomy)"
And why not in the next generation of satellites, tag on a communications module to help pay for the pure research being done from that platform? I realize that the orbital requirements and other aspects may be different, but perhaps not mutually exclusive.
Not so fast. It's a lose-lose. Especially for the american public. No more research in that area. Another closed system, another blocked path. We are getting out of space so fast, it seems as if there is no place or monetary need for access to the cosmos.
How do we present new exciting futures to our children to interest them into math, science, and advancement if we are not chinese or indian now?
Present it to them as the only one book? whichever religion your under, Damn sam that was tried in the dark ages, and for every other generation where the only "good" guys were the strongest asshats on the hill.
Hopefully Caltech has a nice endowment that can help them operate GALEX, because it will not be cheap. Maybe they can help train students to be future satellite operators, and save costs that way.
I was involved in a recent decommissioning of a NASA satellite. We tried to look for a privitization route, but the private funds and the timing just didn't come together in time. Kudos to Caltech for putting this together for GALEX.
Why not transfer it to NOAA's Satellite Service (NESDIS)?
NOAA's Office of Satellite and Product Operations ( http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/ ) in NESDIS is fully capable and staffed for performing 24/7 satellite operations of production systems, or older NASA research satellites. Unlike a private initiative, OSPO is already paid for by the american people, and makes the data available to everyone.
The budget for human space flight is more than thrice that for science. NASA is going to spend over $20B on the "new" SLS system for two launches through 2020.
SLS != human space flight.
Prior to Congress mandating the Pork Launcher, the plan for human space flight involved a long-term plan to develop basic technologies that would make human spaceflight -- or any spaceflight -- easier and cheaper. Specifically developing in-orbit re-fueling and assembly capability, allowing NASA to focus on the trip from earth orbit to elsewhere, while allowing private industry -- for whom orbital capability is already economically feasible -- to handle the first part of the trip as a commodity. This plan, in as much as its components weren't already scientific in nature, did not cripple funding of science at NASA.
It's the Pork Launcher that's the problem. The Pork Launcher is not only killing science at NASA, it's killing the plan that would have obviated the need for the stupid thing in the first place.
The fact that Webb went over budget because Congress didn't provide timely funding is rarely mentioned; Congress simply blames the agency.
Of course and the media just runs with it.
The enemies of Democracy are
So are universities/private contractors on the hook after the satellite goes dark, loses orbit, and crashes into a metropolis somewhere?
Do do universities/private contractors get to fund the launch the next replacement satellite, when the old one finally fails?
Will the public have to pay for the final results?
Perhaps this may be a good thing, if it begins to spread the costs of space technology onto those who most benefit from the results. However, my sense is that "space economics" will wither unless there is a "socialist government sugar-daddy" to ultimately provide a pot of money to actually make it work. This is a bit like the forerunner of the no-bid contract. Perhaps it may be useful in demonstrating to those who hate socialism that socialism is essential for a capitalistic system to operate successfully.
"Credentialed members of the public should be able to either buy survey time or sign up for free observation time."
Is there really an actual market for optical slices of the universe? Is the size of this market actually big enough to support running the infrastructure necessary to obtain and process the results? Will the taxpayer have to pay again to get these results? Those are the questions that need some answers. Privatizing space technology is more about hype associated with landing government contracts than about investors risking personal capital for reward.
I'm sure a nonprofit organization can receive enough benefits (donations) to maintain the bottom line while also selling slices and giving some away free.
But... you have a good point. CalTech can justify it because students will now be even more willing to pay. At least it restricts the impact on society to a smallish group.
I still believe it should be something everybody can use. I'm sure if enough people believed the same, it would receive the needed funding every year.
"Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee