Ignoring for the moment the pressing question of why any individual would actually need a supercomputer, I prefer to revel in the fact that it is even possible to have one.
Unless this microchip was completely nonmetallic, I would assume that it would set off any metal detectors in airports, government buildings, etc. Given the sensitivity of those things, you'd think that putting a mandatory amount of metal in a person's body would cause problems with scanning for legitimate weapons. If decreased the sensitivity of the machines so that they wouldn't be set off by these microchips, you could risk missing things being smuggled into the secure area. However, if you didn't increase sensitivity, then you'd have to hand search every person going into the secure area, which just wouldn't be practical. I don't see how this ID microchip would help ensure safety if it acts in this manner. Not to mention the fact that the human body would probably reject the microchip in the same way that it rejects transplant organs and any other foreign object. And then there's the fact that a good portion of people probably don't want one of these things in their body in the first place, but I suppose that part doesn't matter...it's for the good of the team after all...or something.
I think the ability of a satellite that old and that far away demonstrates that NASA has (or at least had) some good abilities, despite the failures that they have had in the past. Even though there have been some catastrophic failures, there have been far more successes as well as many new technologies that have come out of the space program.
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Ignoring for the moment the pressing question of why any individual would actually need a supercomputer, I prefer to revel in the fact that it is even possible to have one.
Unless this microchip was completely nonmetallic, I would assume that it would set off any metal detectors in airports, government buildings, etc. Given the sensitivity of those things, you'd think that putting a mandatory amount of metal in a person's body would cause problems with scanning for legitimate weapons. If decreased the sensitivity of the machines so that they wouldn't be set off by these microchips, you could risk missing things being smuggled into the secure area. However, if you didn't increase sensitivity, then you'd have to hand search every person going into the secure area, which just wouldn't be practical. I don't see how this ID microchip would help ensure safety if it acts in this manner. Not to mention the fact that the human body would probably reject the microchip in the same way that it rejects transplant organs and any other foreign object. And then there's the fact that a good portion of people probably don't want one of these things in their body in the first place, but I suppose that part doesn't matter...it's for the good of the team after all...or something.
I think the ability of a satellite that old and that far away demonstrates that NASA has (or at least had) some good abilities, despite the failures that they have had in the past. Even though there have been some catastrophic failures, there have been far more successes as well as many new technologies that have come out of the space program.