If you read both the the official chinese statements and most news items in western media, the impact of the chinese manned space flight boils down to one single objective:
National pride
This also explains, why both Russia and America have cut down their manned space programs - people are not that much interested in being proud of their nation-state, therefore, the taxpayers are not willing to pour money into such costly efforts.
Please remember: The scientific or commercial efficiency of such programs is extremely bad, most of the ressources are wasted for life support and safety. The only motivation for China to send an astronaut into space was to glorify the nation-state and to create a national hero.
This kind of heroism and nationalism is typical for both western and soviet industrial societies in the 1940s to 1960s. Since then, it has started to vanish. Apollo was stopped because public attention declined. China is just repeating the economical and social development that we did in the 1960s. That's why they also start with spaceflight this way.
Their manned space program is an indication that their social and economical development stage is close to ours in the 1960, although they will keep on catching up fast. But while they catch up, they will soon gain insight into the ecomomical aspects of space flight and cut down their manned space program.
The winged design of the shuttle is far from having shown any improvement in space readiness - the higher complexity and the intention to re-use the vehicle have dramatically increased turnaround times. By the way, the idea of returning damaged satellites, repairing them on the ground and sending them back into space has never been successfully exploited.
For several reasons, the X-33 was dead from arrival, a fatally flawed design with the additional lack of capacity to carry people. At least with chemical, pure rocket propulsion, SSTO vehicles are neither feasible nor economically sound.
In contrary to frequent misconceptions, materials technology does not follow Moore's law - heat and stress resistance DO NOT double every 18 months!
It is easy to cry for more money, but as the OSP is likely to fail due to skyrocketing costs and technical problems (unless the capsule design is chosen), NASA will lack positive results, and without positive results, there is no funding. NASA would be better off to choose the technically best solution based on the available funds and be honest to the public about what is possible and what not.
The successor to the X-15 was DynaSoar, a spaceplane sitting on top of a rocket. Guess why that design was dumped an no one ever picked it up again (although Europe was close with its stupit Hermes sitting on top of an Ariane 5).
Guess which design will be chosen? Do you really think, those in charge will drop the proposals that have too many bells and whistles, as written in the article?
Of course, NASA will select the design with wings, probably the most expensive and error-prone variant, because it will be pushed through by the aerospace industry lobby.
We will observe this agency bypass any principle of common sense and experiences from successful space programs, just to have a new shiny and politically pleasing toy. It's like re-inventing the wheel - this time not a round, but a square shaped one.
What's so bad about winged designs?
Wings are useless during launch and in space, they just add to weight penalty.
Winged vehicles are unstable during re-entry and need a complex and error-prone automatic flight control system.
Wings are less fault tolerant and more vulnerable to damage.
The worst idea is however to put a winged vehicle on top of a rocket! This concept has been repeatedly rejected due to very good reasons, the most important one being the high lateral and bending loads on the rocket!
The good old ballistic capsule still holds all safety records in manned spaceflight - there are only very few lethal accidents, related to the large number of successful launches and returns. The Apollo capsule could land in an area of about 2 miles diameter so accuracy is not such a big concern. It could be further improved by using a parawing instead of parachutes.
The only real problem with ballistic capsules is the high re-entry deceleration due to the low drag and therefore the late beginning of aerobraking. However, no astronaut was ever killed due to re-entry or landing impact deceleration and the problem could be dealt with by using additional inflatable structures to increase drag during the early re-entry phases.
The German DMCA replica has one little positive aspect: copy-protected media MUST be labeled as such. This means, it must be visible to the purchaser BEFORE opening the package or breaking the seal that the CD/DVD/whatever has copy protection.
Therefore, it is easier now to refuse buying crappy products. Of course, this helps only if you are not so spineless as to let the big media companies force copy protection down your throat. Be an educated customer, or you get what you deserve!
The article is cluttered with flaws and unfortunate misinterpretations of laws of physics. These flaws do not turn better if they are part of a complex theoretical explanation.
1.) Electromagnetic radiation has momentum, otherwise, there would be no electromagnetic forces. Period.
2.) Light is not heat - it is a directed stream of photons and a solar sail is by no means a heat engine being limited by the Carnot principle.
3.) Energy conversion holds due to doppler effect - reflected photons get their frequency shifted to red.
4.) Sailing boats have been working perfectly for thousands of years, using a similar principle with air carrying the momentum. And the air was not absorbed by the sails!
Sceptics frequently point out that a conspiracy like the one linked to UFOs, Area 51Âetc. is practically impossible to keep secret because there will always be leaks. This argument is backed by several secret military projects having been discovered before official disclosure and those government scandals that could not be swept under the carpet (Watergate, anyone?).
However, there is a smarter way to cover up a conspiracy and, surprisingly, UFOs are a very good candidate.
The idea is to create a miserable signal/noise ratio concerning the informations circulating about the suspected conspiracy. Flood all media with disinformation. The remaining few leaks that disclose real stuff are simply drowned and will never get sufficient public recognition. Furthermore, the whole topic gets a pretty spooky reputation, resulting in everyone who picks it up being ridiculed immediately.
That's how it could have worked: After a UFO crash/landing and several subsequent events that were hard to cover up, thousands of people were invited (or hired) to submit their UFO encounter story. Then, a committee was set up (Blue Book) to routinely debunk the stories. Those few that slipped through as not explicable with current knowledge were squeezed out of visibility by the huge pile of rubbish.
Wings do not give many additional options. You can't fly this machine like in the "Core" movie.
Once you have completed your de-orbit manouever, the re-entry trajectory is pretty much determined. You do have some additional cross-range with aerodynamic control but there is absolutely no way to bail out of anywhere.
A capsule can descend safely even in case of a complete loss of flight control because it is aerodynamically stable. It is not uncontrollable - there is no need for control!
Its expendable heat shield is much more robust than the re-usable one and landing with parachutes does not require pilot skills.
" Back in the early days it was thought that commercial satellite launch and recovery would help subsidize shuttle launches."
Yes, but this "business model" has failed. Using an expendable launcher to launch expendable payloads has turned out to be much cheaper than providing the option to return a payload to earth for repair.
... to see that this useless vehicle is put back into operation, wasting money that could be spent for good space science and efficient transportation.
A winged vehicle has nothing but disadvantages, except looking nice on TV when landing:
- Wings impose a huge weight penalty
- Re-entry with wings is unstable and requires active control
- Wings are vulnerable due to their large surface
The space shuttle is anything but re-usable. The boosters are not re-used, the tank is lost anyway and after landing, the shuttle is completely dis- and re-assembled.
State-of-the-art expendable launchers can haul people into space (and bring them safely back) at a fraction of the cost: use a ballistic capsule with escape rocket and a parawing for enhanced flexibility during landing.
The shuttle's only purpose is to fly to the ISS. The ISS's only purpose is to justify the existence of the shuttle. For the Hubble telescope alone, the shuttle would never have been built.
FGM prevalence in Egypt was at 97% in 1995.
Look here:
http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/fgm-prov-d.htm
http://www.icrh.org/areas/fgm/medical_aspects_FGM/ fmg-09.html
http://www.afrol.com/Categories/Women/profiles/egy pt_women.htm
http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/femgen/fgm9.ht m
Actual figures vary between 80 and 97%, depending on severity threshold and region.
There are dozens of reports and papers on
http://www.who.int and http://www.usaid.gov
According to statistics of various human rights organizations, 95% of Egyptian women are victims of severe genital mutilation, having their sensitive parts removed with dirty blunt knives or glass splinters and the remaining hole sewn closed, forcing them to spend hours for peeing.
Ironically, this (irreversible) life-long suffering is worse by several orders of magnitude, compared to having to spend your life as a power supply for the matrix. And this suffering happens in the real world, but no one cares.
"The matrix" is too violent, just because of some people kicking their asses? That's hypocrisy, but what else do we expect from religion? Religion does not care about violence, it produces and uses it regularly. Clerics are afraid of people starting to think on their own. Don't give a shit about what they say, don't give a shit for their fscking culture!
Slashdot Mirror
If you read both the the official chinese statements and most news items in western media, the impact of the chinese manned space flight boils down to one single objective:
National pride
This also explains, why both Russia and America have cut down their manned space programs - people are not that much interested in being proud of their nation-state, therefore, the taxpayers are not willing to pour money into such costly efforts.
Please remember: The scientific or commercial efficiency of such programs is extremely bad, most of the ressources are wasted for life support and safety. The only motivation for China to send an astronaut into space was to glorify the nation-state and to create a national hero.
This kind of heroism and nationalism is typical for both western and soviet industrial societies in the 1940s to 1960s. Since then, it has started to vanish. Apollo was stopped because public attention declined. China is just repeating the economical and social development that we did in the 1960s. That's why they also start with spaceflight this way.
Their manned space program is an indication that their social and economical development stage is close to ours in the 1960, although they will keep on catching up fast. But while they catch up, they will soon gain insight into the ecomomical aspects of space flight and cut down their manned space program.
Recommended reading: Grumpy old men - the future ain't what it used to be
net send "Press OK to format drive C:"
enjoy!
The winged design of the shuttle is far from having shown any improvement in space readiness - the higher complexity and the intention to re-use the vehicle have dramatically increased turnaround times. By the way, the idea of returning damaged satellites, repairing them on the ground and sending them back into space has never been successfully exploited.
For several reasons, the X-33 was dead from arrival, a fatally flawed design with the additional lack of capacity to carry people. At least with chemical, pure rocket propulsion, SSTO vehicles are neither feasible nor economically sound.
In contrary to frequent misconceptions, materials technology does not follow Moore's law - heat and stress resistance DO NOT double every 18 months!
It is easy to cry for more money, but as the OSP is likely to fail due to skyrocketing costs and technical problems (unless the capsule design is chosen), NASA will lack positive results, and without positive results, there is no funding. NASA would be better off to choose the technically best solution based on the available funds and be honest to the public about what is possible and what not.
The successor to the X-15 was DynaSoar, a spaceplane sitting on top of a rocket. Guess why that design was dumped an no one ever picked it up again (although Europe was close with its stupit Hermes sitting on top of an Ariane 5).
Of course, NASA will select the design with wings, probably the most expensive and error-prone variant, because it will be pushed through by the aerospace industry lobby.
We will observe this agency bypass any principle of common sense and experiences from successful space programs, just to have a new shiny and politically pleasing toy. It's like re-inventing the wheel - this time not a round, but a square shaped one.
What's so bad about winged designs?
- Wings are useless during launch and in space, they just add to weight penalty.
- Winged vehicles are unstable during re-entry and need a complex and error-prone automatic flight control system.
- Wings are less fault tolerant and more vulnerable to damage.
The worst idea is however to put a winged vehicle on top of a rocket! This concept has been repeatedly rejected due to very good reasons, the most important one being the high lateral and bending loads on the rocket!The good old ballistic capsule still holds all safety records in manned spaceflight - there are only very few lethal accidents, related to the large number of successful launches and returns. The Apollo capsule could land in an area of about 2 miles diameter so accuracy is not such a big concern. It could be further improved by using a parawing instead of parachutes.
The only real problem with ballistic capsules is the high re-entry deceleration due to the low drag and therefore the late beginning of aerobraking. However, no astronaut was ever killed due to re-entry or landing impact deceleration and the problem could be dealt with by using additional inflatable structures to increase drag during the early re-entry phases.
The German DMCA replica has one little positive aspect: copy-protected media MUST be labeled as such. This means, it must be visible to the purchaser BEFORE opening the package or breaking the seal that the CD/DVD/whatever has copy protection.
Therefore, it is easier now to refuse buying crappy products. Of course, this helps only if you are not so spineless as to let the big media companies force copy protection down your throat. Be an educated customer, or you get what you deserve!
The article is cluttered with flaws and unfortunate misinterpretations of laws of physics. These flaws do not turn better if they are part of a complex theoretical explanation.
1.) Electromagnetic radiation has momentum, otherwise, there would be no electromagnetic forces. Period.
2.) Light is not heat - it is a directed stream of photons and a solar sail is by no means a heat engine being limited by the Carnot principle.
3.) Energy conversion holds due to doppler effect - reflected photons get their frequency shifted to red.
4.) Sailing boats have been working perfectly for thousands of years, using a similar principle with air carrying the momentum. And the air was not absorbed by the sails!
Sceptics frequently point out that a conspiracy like the one linked to UFOs, Area 51Âetc. is practically impossible to keep secret because there will always be leaks. This argument is backed by several secret military projects having been discovered before official disclosure and those government scandals that could not be swept under the carpet (Watergate, anyone?).
However, there is a smarter way to cover up a conspiracy and, surprisingly, UFOs are a very good candidate.
The idea is to create a miserable signal/noise ratio concerning the informations circulating about the suspected conspiracy. Flood all media with disinformation. The remaining few leaks that disclose real stuff are simply drowned and will never get sufficient public recognition. Furthermore, the whole topic gets a pretty spooky reputation, resulting in everyone who picks it up being ridiculed immediately.
That's how it could have worked: After a UFO crash/landing and several subsequent events that were hard to cover up, thousands of people were invited (or hired) to submit their UFO encounter story. Then, a committee was set up (Blue Book) to routinely debunk the stories. Those few that slipped through as not explicable with current knowledge were squeezed out of visibility by the huge pile of rubbish.
Wings do not give many additional options. You can't fly this machine like in the "Core" movie.
Once you have completed your de-orbit manouever, the re-entry trajectory is pretty much determined. You do have some additional cross-range with aerodynamic control but there is absolutely no way to bail out of anywhere.
A capsule can descend safely even in case of a complete loss of flight control because it is aerodynamically stable. It is not uncontrollable - there is no need for control!
Its expendable heat shield is much more robust than the re-usable one and landing with parachutes does not require pilot skills.
" Back in the early days it was thought that commercial satellite launch and recovery would help subsidize shuttle launches."
Yes, but this "business model" has failed. Using an expendable launcher to launch expendable payloads has turned out to be much cheaper than providing the option to return a payload to earth for repair.
... to see that this useless vehicle is put back into operation, wasting money that could be spent for good space science and efficient transportation.
A winged vehicle has nothing but disadvantages, except looking nice on TV when landing:
- Wings impose a huge weight penalty
- Re-entry with wings is unstable and requires active control
- Wings are vulnerable due to their large surface
The space shuttle is anything but re-usable. The boosters are not re-used, the tank is lost anyway and after landing, the shuttle is completely dis- and re-assembled.
State-of-the-art expendable launchers can haul people into space (and bring them safely back) at a fraction of the cost: use a ballistic capsule with escape rocket and a parawing for enhanced flexibility during landing.
The shuttle's only purpose is to fly to the ISS. The ISS's only purpose is to justify the existence of the shuttle. For the Hubble telescope alone, the shuttle would never have been built.
FGM prevalence in Egypt was at 97% in 1995./ fmg-09.html
y pt_women.htm
t m
Look here:
http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/fgm-prov-d.htm
http://www.icrh.org/areas/fgm/medical_aspects_FGM
http://www.afrol.com/Categories/Women/profiles/eg
http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/femgen/fgm9.h
Actual figures vary between 80 and 97%, depending on severity threshold and region.
There are dozens of reports and papers on
http://www.who.int and http://www.usaid.gov
According to statistics of various human rights organizations, 95% of Egyptian women are victims of severe genital mutilation, having their sensitive parts removed with dirty blunt knives or glass splinters and the remaining hole sewn closed, forcing them to spend hours for peeing. Ironically, this (irreversible) life-long suffering is worse by several orders of magnitude, compared to having to spend your life as a power supply for the matrix. And this suffering happens in the real world, but no one cares. "The matrix" is too violent, just because of some people kicking their asses? That's hypocrisy, but what else do we expect from religion? Religion does not care about violence, it produces and uses it regularly. Clerics are afraid of people starting to think on their own. Don't give a shit about what they say, don't give a shit for their fscking culture!