NASA spent very little money on this. Most teams were funded by their university and local space grants which almost every state has. The only real expense to NASA was in setting up the final test and the judging.
I graduated from WVU (THIRD PLACE, congratulations guys!) last year so I couldn't participate in this event, but I have participated in similar ones in years past, more elaborate ones even. Trust me they are worth the cost to the tax payer.
It wasn't until praticipating in one of these competitions and saw the actual rael world applications of my school work for the first time did I really buckle down and start to take school seriously.
If you want to launch station segments by themselves like the Russians do the segments become more expensive, smaller, and less capable because each segment has to be its own spaceship complete with guidance, altitude and attitude control, and docking capability.
The shuttle allowed for the segments to be large, cheep, and uncomplicated. Plus the entire integrated truss system witch is quite literally the backbone of the station could not have happened without the shuttle. You would have to get your power from smaller solar arrays, which would greatly complicate the power system. Same problem with the radiators.
The shuttle did a great job with the ISS,
To bad the ISS hasn't done a great job for science or exploration. It has just been a large overpriced diplomacy tool, mostly used to keep the Russian aerospace industry alive after the collapse so they wouldn't wonder off and wind up in china or Iran.
You are making several failed assumptions about the world run by me.
1) You assume that STEM majors do not appreciate arts 2) You assume STEM majors are not creative, and will make a society of uniform rows of grey buildings 3) You assume art can only be learned by univerity classes.
I myself am an engineering graduate student. And while I don't paint I appreciate good architecture (which BTW I think is considered STEM), literature, and music. I just don't see how one might need a formal university education in those areas to make an impact on society.
STEM is a wonderful field if you manage to end up in the top 10% of your class, get into a good graduate school, and eventually manage 10% there too.
But for folks like me, an underachiever and average student, who ended up with an undergrad GPA of 3.5 and a Grad GPA of 3.6(so far), and only cared about airplanes and rockets throughout school, STEM has been a slap in the face.
With a degree in physics I envisioned coming out of school and being bombarded with job offers. In the entire summer of 2010 I had three interviews out of nearly 100 jobs applied for, didn't get a single position. Meanwhile I worked for 30k a year as a technician for a company which makes medical equipment where my job duties regularly included changing light bulbs and sweeping.
I only came back to grad school because I want to avoid reality for a couple more years, not because I think it will land me a better job.
Last thing I need is more competition. STAY AWAY FROM MY JOBS
There are actually American flags put on Russian Soyuz rockets when an American is flying, or the US has payed for the payload on a Progress supply ship.
Space debris is a problem, but not THAT big of a problem. I mean think of the vast size of the earth and the vast volume of area which satellites inhabit, and then think of how little we actually put up there. Those pictures you see make every piece of debris look like they are the size of Belgium.
Not only has the Ares 1 already had it first test flight. I am here saying, on record, that the Dragon will not fly until at least 2020, if ever.
SpaceX is a joke of a company.
Do you know how simple the falcon 1 is? And they only have a 2/5 record with it. While most modern rocket systems, which have far greater abilities, designed in the last 20 years have perfect records.
The Flacon 9 is much more complex, SpaceX will take a decade to get it right.
Asking SpaceX to get a man to LEO is like asking the Wright Brothers to fly you across the Atlantic.
No, what you listed are things that only NASA can do, and are the things that NASA should be doing.
The "scientific bloat" is the billions of dollars a year NASA spends on research that could be carried out at any university for half the cost or for free(to the tax payer) by industry.
Yes, Stoop Kid has been afraid to leave his stoop since the early 70s. But NASA once demonstrated its abilities to achieve whatever it set its collective mind to.
'Here is a bunch of money, more than you usually get. I want you to spend it, but I don't want you to do anything with it.'
Which is essentially how the rest of the scientific community works. But there are thousands of Universities and private labs who already do that work.
NASA is the only organization in the world that can do what it did, manned exploration of the universe.
Why don't we leave aimless R&D to academia and let NASA do what it can.
If you got rid of all the scientific bloat on NASA's budget there would be plenty of money for moon and mars, and science will follow.
What better way to learn how to live with dwindling resources here on earth than learning to live in a place with NO RESOURCES!
The possible environmentally important spin-off technologies from a moon/mars mission are endless
Advanced hydroponics Advance carbon dioxide filtering techniques Learning how to grow food in mineral-less soil
Think of Mars or the Moon as a laboratory.
If we can figure out how to live there, we can possibly figure out what it takes to live in harmony with any environment, even our own.
PLUS when you say waste of resources, what do you mean? Money? NASA budget is minuscule to the amount of money the US government throws away. Scientist? Aerospace engineers don't care about environmental science, it isn't their field, it is not like you will be keeping them from solving terrestrial problems by having them work on spacecraft.
These rules are probably in place because after people come down from their drug trips they are horrified to see naked pictures of themselves on the internet. I am sure the naked woman dancing at burning man on its wikipedia.org page probably isn't thrilled to have that honour.
Both Japan and Europe at one point in time had the feudal system.
When you have hundreds of sovereign neighbors who want to kill you it gives you good motivation to develop educational instututions which help you develop both hard and soft power through innovation.
Probably also why the greek city staes had a reputation for innovation.
Meanwhile the African tribes were lucky to ever even come in contact with each other and never needed to develop educational institutions.
Slashdot Mirror
We all know which one will be dropped
Blue Origin and their SSTO nonsense should have never received a dime of public money to begin with.
Good riddance.
NASA spent very little money on this. Most teams were funded by their university and local space grants which almost every state has. The only real expense to NASA was in setting up the final test and the judging.
I graduated from WVU (THIRD PLACE, congratulations guys!) last year so I couldn't participate in this event, but I have participated in similar ones in years past, more elaborate ones even. Trust me they are worth the cost to the tax payer.
It wasn't until praticipating in one of these competitions and saw the actual rael world applications of my school work for the first time did I really buckle down and start to take school seriously.
For the US it would be more expensive to build.
Everything built in Russia is cheaper.
Also, can you provide a source on those numbers. The only mir cost I could find did not say it was adjusted for inflation or not
If you want to launch station segments by themselves like the Russians do the segments become more expensive, smaller, and less capable because each segment has to be its own spaceship complete with guidance, altitude and attitude control, and docking capability.
The shuttle allowed for the segments to be large, cheep, and uncomplicated. Plus the entire integrated truss system witch is quite literally the backbone of the station could not have happened without the shuttle. You would have to get your power from smaller solar arrays, which would greatly complicate the power system. Same problem with the radiators.
The shuttle did a great job with the ISS,
To bad the ISS hasn't done a great job for science or exploration. It has just been a large overpriced diplomacy tool, mostly used to keep the Russian aerospace industry alive after the collapse so they wouldn't wonder off and wind up in china or Iran.
This is what I will be telling my boss from now on
You are making several failed assumptions about the world run by me.
1) You assume that STEM majors do not appreciate arts
2) You assume STEM majors are not creative, and will make a society of uniform rows of grey buildings
3) You assume art can only be learned by univerity classes.
I myself am an engineering graduate student. And while I don't paint I appreciate good architecture (which BTW I think is considered STEM), literature, and music. I just don't see how one might need a formal university education in those areas to make an impact on society.
I would think it would be the opposite. That the gender studies and the dance majors should be paying the way for the STEM majors.
After all, only one group will contribute to the economy after graduation.
STEM is a wonderful field if you manage to end up in the top 10% of your class, get into a good graduate school, and eventually manage 10% there too.
But for folks like me, an underachiever and average student, who ended up with an undergrad GPA of 3.5 and a Grad GPA of 3.6(so far), and only cared about airplanes and rockets throughout school, STEM has been a slap in the face.
With a degree in physics I envisioned coming out of school and being bombarded with job offers. In the entire summer of 2010 I had three interviews out of nearly 100 jobs applied for, didn't get a single position. Meanwhile I worked for 30k a year as a technician for a company which makes medical equipment where my job duties regularly included changing light bulbs and sweeping.
I only came back to grad school because I want to avoid reality for a couple more years, not because I think it will land me a better job.
Last thing I need is more competition. STAY AWAY FROM MY JOBS
Wouldn't it be great to pick and choose how our tax money is allocated within the government.
I for one would transfer all the tax money I pay towards welfare, and most of what I pay towards the military to places like NASA, and NSF
The Space Shuttle
The Delta series
The Atlas Series
The Araine series
They were all touted early on as being very inexpensive, prices ended up increasing much faster than inflation.
Of course those were all designed in the 70s, we shall see what the present brings
Or you can just download the graphing calculator app for your smart phone.
.99
They only cost
If your apogee is over the target you need larger optics to get the same resolution you would get in a lower orbit.
The Molniya orbit was used for communications in the days before the soviets were Geo-sync was capable. It was never meant for spying.
There are actually American flags put on Russian Soyuz rockets when an American is flying, or the US has payed for the payload on a Progress supply ship.
As far as NASCAR advertising goes...
Space debris is a problem, but not THAT big of a problem. I mean think of the vast size of the earth and the vast volume of area which satellites inhabit, and then think of how little we actually put up there. Those pictures you see make every piece of debris look like they are the size of Belgium.
So why did you pick the US rocket with the worst record to compare the falcon 9 to?
Why not the Atlas V or even the Delta II, both have nearly perfect records.
Not only has the Ares 1 already had it first test flight. I am here saying, on record, that the Dragon will not fly until at least 2020, if ever.
SpaceX is a joke of a company.
Do you know how simple the falcon 1 is? And they only have a 2/5 record with it. While most modern rocket systems, which have far greater abilities, designed in the last 20 years have perfect records.
The Flacon 9 is much more complex, SpaceX will take a decade to get it right.
Asking SpaceX to get a man to LEO is like asking the Wright Brothers to fly you across the Atlantic.
No, what you listed are things that only NASA can do, and are the things that NASA should be doing.
The "scientific bloat" is the billions of dollars a year NASA spends on research that could be carried out at any university for half the cost or for free(to the tax payer) by industry.
Yes, Stoop Kid has been afraid to leave his stoop since the early 70s. But NASA once demonstrated its abilities to achieve whatever it set its collective mind to.
Just Russia for the time being. But China's manned lifter, Shenzhou, is more capable than the Soyuz and probably cheaper once it goes into production.
To me Obama's plan sounds like this
'Here is a bunch of money, more than you usually get. I want you to spend it, but I don't want you to do anything with it.'
Which is essentially how the rest of the scientific community works. But there are thousands of Universities and private labs who already do that work.
NASA is the only organization in the world that can do what it did, manned exploration of the universe.
Why don't we leave aimless R&D to academia and let NASA do what it can.
If you got rid of all the scientific bloat on NASA's budget there would be plenty of money for moon and mars, and science will follow.
What better way to learn how to live with dwindling resources here on earth than learning to live in a place with NO RESOURCES!
The possible environmentally important spin-off technologies from a moon/mars mission are endless
Advanced hydroponics
Advance carbon dioxide filtering techniques
Learning how to grow food in mineral-less soil
Think of Mars or the Moon as a laboratory.
If we can figure out how to live there, we can possibly figure out what it takes to live in harmony with any environment, even our own.
PLUS when you say waste of resources, what do you mean? Money? NASA budget is minuscule to the amount of money the US government throws away. Scientist? Aerospace engineers don't care about environmental science, it isn't their field, it is not like you will be keeping them from solving terrestrial problems by having them work on spacecraft.
Couldn't this be tweaked and used as a method of hibernation to stave off boredom and conserve supplies for long duration space flight?
So when is the next Dirk Gently book going to be written. Someone should finish A Salmon of doubt.
The first Dirk book was 10x better than any of the HH books
These rules are probably in place because after people come down from their drug trips they are horrified to see naked pictures of themselves on the internet. I am sure the naked woman dancing at burning man on its wikipedia.org page probably isn't thrilled to have that honour.
I tend to believe it is warfare not genetics.
Both Japan and Europe at one point in time had the feudal system.
When you have hundreds of sovereign neighbors who want to kill you it gives you good motivation to develop educational instututions which help you develop both hard and soft power through innovation.
Probably also why the greek city staes had a reputation for innovation.
Meanwhile the African tribes were lucky to ever even come in contact with each other and never needed to develop educational institutions.