Just because we didn't have all the systems to go to the Moon didn't hurt us. We developed them. Thats what will happen here, good old Terran engineering (carbon nano-tube fibers would work, we got the tubes now we gotta figure out the fiber part). Getting weight out of earth's deep gravity well to orbit is VERY expensive. If you can do it cheaper then you lift the parts to orbit and build things there. Basically the cost of operating the elevator is free, the construction would not be! As far as disaster, what are you talking about? if the thing breaks part of it remains in orbit and some falls back burning up on reentry. KSRs Mars scenario is possible there as Mars has about 1/4 to 1/5 the Earths atmosphere. Even so, the elevator could be built in the ocean so no population areas are nearby.
Failure to think out of the box and have a "can-do" attitude is very important if we are to ever accomplish great things in science and engineering.
It's great for some college kids, but it's not bleeding edge like some think. Lots of spin,not many facts (but hey, thats why the marketing guys make the big bucks and we get to try to make what they say work!)
Linear aerospike rocket engines have been around for more than 30 years. They were created by Air Forc in the early 1960s, Rocketdyne developed the technology for both linear and annular aerospike engines during the mid-1960s, ground testing various designs into the 1970s.Aerospike engines were proposed for use on the Space Shuttle, but the engine was turned down because the technology was considered too immature at the time. Since then, Rocketdyne has accomplished 73 laboratory and ground-test firings, with over 4,000 seconds of operation of this type engine. (the kids flew for FOUR seconds, 3 orders of magnitude LESS)
The RS-68 Rocketdyne aerospike LIQUID Fueled engine was planned for the X-33 SSTO (cancelled) but linear aerospike engines of up to 430,000 lbs thrust (XRS22200) have been sucessfully tested.
In other words who ever wrote the press release for the University didn't do the research. The kids are back when the Nazi's were in the 1940s.
The time on the Hubble is FREE from STSI (Space Telescope Science Institute, in Baltimore MD) NASA pays them to operate HST, as a scientist you just have to submit a good experiment to STSI, get approved and wait in line for years for your observation. If the HST is down or croaks during your observation window, too bad, you go back to the end of the line and wait. Hubble will soon be upgraded (SM4) to have better "eyes" when the Shuttle is back up. I have worked some on the SM4 software, its a LOT of very very old C code on an old 286 processor, plus some one of a kind processors from 25 yrs ago that no one else but NASA uses. Several of the instruments have NO software. But it gets the job done. If Uranas has the two Moons, I would have thought HST would have found them by now as they DO look at the planets and not just the neato nifty nebulas and stuff sveral Sagans ("billions and billions") of light years away
JWST (James Web Space Telescope) is just now reaching the requirements definition phase, expect 7-10 yrs before launch. It will be stationed at L-4 or L-2 (the Earth Sun Lagrange Points where the gravity pull of the Earth and Sun are equal, so the object kinda just sits there with very litte station keeping needed) which is a LONG way from Earth, so the JWST better work right the FIRST time cuz there ain't no way to get there to put glasses on it!
No. Simply put there was not criminal intent, just sheer arrogance and stupidity. Negligence? Maybe but thats tough to prove. I don't recall the CAIB report ever saying that or even hinting at it.
To answer the next obvious question, no they families cannot sue for damages in a civil action.
The flight crew life insurance policies state that their hiers will NOT sue NASA or the United States Government. The astronauts who are also active duty military have the similar clauses in the Serviceman's Life Insurance Policy. These families collected on both policies plus NASA has agreed to "take care of" all the families and pay for the kids educations. The policies carry some big disclaimers like the Shuttle is an "experimental vehicle" which means high risk of death so the premiums are pretty high.
Eleven of the 14 mangers in that (in)decision making loop have been reassigned or have left NASA. No one at NASA seems to know or is allowed to say where these ex-managers have been reassigned to! Mark Dittimore who was the Manager for the Shuttle Program retired and left, but he had planned to leave[no one will say they now employ him!] and had filed for it before Columbia launched. The only other one I have heard about was Roy Bridges the head of KSC during the launch and he has been asked to head the new NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) over at Langley,VA. Interested observers are invited to try http://nasawatch.com [good inside info, but not an offical NASA site].The NASA Safety motto that is expressed at the part of NASA I support is: "If it isn't safe, Say So....and then clean out your desk".
Nasty Lawyers!! RIAA DROPPED the case before the judge could dismiss with prejudice. If dissmissed with prejudice they could not refile the same charges. So they beat the judge to the punch and in effect "reserved" the right to sue Granny. Why would Granny be downloading anything but Golden Oldies or is RIAA collecting on these artists even after some are dead? IIRC, Kazza is not available for the Mac.
Really? NASA had Solar Observing Satelittes in 1903?;) We have been LOOKING at the sun for a long time, but not STUDYING it more than about 25yrs. We STILL don't know all that much about the sun's cycles (like why do sunspots happen and what do they do to the weather?) and how much solar radiation affects weather and global warming. Like some said are we just looking at a local maximum and not seeing the whole cycle? Antartic ice cores have shown warmer and colder periods dating back tens of thousands of years. We should not be alarmed nor should we have our heads in the sand. Solid Peer-Reviewed research needs to be done over a period of time.
The ATM function is a simple Finite State Machine with about a dozen states. Wait for User, Read Card, Read PIN, Validate PIN, Access Account, Verify Money in Account, Disburse Money, Print Receipt, Update Account Balance, Ask for another Transaction, Give Back Card, back to Wait. Several CS textbooks use an ATM as the FSM example for students. You DO NOT need a O/S for this, you don't have any complex tasking, everything is sequential, you need drivers for screen, Card Reader, Network and Printer. This hardly calls for Windows or even an embedded type OS like VxWorks. The reason you get Windows is for the bank to add "bells and whistles" like advertisements for the bank's car loans or the local Karoke bar. Or to let you talk to the ATM or some other overly complex silliness. Just give me my money (quickly and accurate) and I'm happy. I think this is the Wintel mononoply finding a spot to sell chips and software that are NOT really needed.
Since it's on Broadway I guess they will get to "sing and dance a lot".
I can just imagine the Audience Participation as in Rocky Horror. A whole audience yelling "Ni" might be rough on the actors;)
This wouldn't surprise me that when SCO stock is sold M$ thru a shell company buys. This is a way around a hostile takeover or PR nightmare buyout. Its not illegal. In the not so long run SCO is ready to go under and M$ offers a "white knight" offer to buy or takeover as the majority stockholder, so the "poor stockholders and creditors " don't lose all thier money in bankruptcy. Then M$ owns the SCO "IP". The legal action with IBM, RedHat, et. al. can be funded by the deep pockets in Redmond. They win the case and they get rid of Linux, and deal a $3B blow to IBM. Then there ARE no competitors to WinDoze. This is one of the tricks used by Rockefeller in the 1920's to Standard Oil into what it was. Gates is not stupid, he's studied history.
C&H Great? Heck Yea!!
Greatest ever? My Vote goes to "Bloom County". I miss that one. Good thing Breathed does not work for SCO, he'd be suing for the Linux Penquin infrining on Opus.
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Just because we didn't have all the systems to go to the Moon didn't hurt us. We developed them. Thats what will happen here, good old Terran engineering (carbon nano-tube fibers would work, we got the tubes now we gotta figure out the fiber part). Getting weight out of earth's deep gravity well to orbit is VERY expensive. If you can do it cheaper then you lift the parts to orbit and build things there. Basically the cost of operating the elevator is free, the construction would not be! As far as disaster, what are you talking about? if the thing breaks part of it remains in orbit and some falls back burning up on reentry. KSRs Mars scenario is possible there as Mars has about 1/4 to 1/5 the Earths atmosphere. Even so, the elevator could be built in the ocean so no population areas are nearby. Failure to think out of the box and have a "can-do" attitude is very important if we are to ever accomplish great things in science and engineering.
It's great for some college kids, but it's not bleeding edge like some think. Lots of spin,not many facts (but hey, thats why the marketing guys make the big bucks and we get to try to make what they say work!)
Linear aerospike rocket engines have been around for more than 30 years. They were created by Air Forc in the early 1960s, Rocketdyne developed the technology for both linear and annular aerospike engines during the mid-1960s, ground testing various designs into the 1970s.Aerospike engines were proposed for use on the Space Shuttle, but the engine was turned down because the technology was considered too immature at the time. Since then, Rocketdyne has accomplished 73 laboratory and ground-test firings, with over 4,000 seconds of operation of this type engine. (the kids flew for FOUR seconds, 3 orders of magnitude LESS)
The RS-68 Rocketdyne aerospike LIQUID Fueled engine was planned for the X-33 SSTO (cancelled) but linear aerospike engines of up to 430,000 lbs thrust (XRS22200) have been sucessfully tested.
In other words who ever wrote the press release for the University didn't do the research. The kids are back when the Nazi's were in the 1940s.
The time on the Hubble is FREE from STSI (Space Telescope Science Institute, in Baltimore MD) NASA pays them to operate HST, as a scientist you just have to submit a good experiment to STSI, get approved and wait in line for years for your observation. If the HST is down or croaks during your observation window, too bad, you go back to the end of the line and wait. Hubble will soon be upgraded (SM4) to have better "eyes" when the Shuttle is back up. I have worked some on the SM4 software, its a LOT of very very old C code on an old 286 processor, plus some one of a kind processors from 25 yrs ago that no one else but NASA uses. Several of the instruments have NO software. But it gets the job done. If Uranas has the two Moons, I would have thought HST would have found them by now as they DO look at the planets and not just the neato nifty nebulas and stuff sveral Sagans ("billions and billions") of light years away
JWST (James Web Space Telescope) is just now reaching the requirements definition phase, expect 7-10 yrs before launch. It will be stationed at L-4 or L-2 (the Earth Sun Lagrange Points where the gravity pull of the Earth and Sun are equal, so the object kinda just sits there with very litte station keeping needed) which is a LONG way from Earth, so the JWST better work right the FIRST time cuz there ain't no way to get there to put glasses on it!
Any other questions?
No. Simply put there was not criminal intent, just sheer arrogance and stupidity. Negligence? Maybe but thats tough to prove. I don't recall the CAIB report ever saying that or even hinting at it. To answer the next obvious question, no they families cannot sue for damages in a civil action. The flight crew life insurance policies state that their hiers will NOT sue NASA or the United States Government. The astronauts who are also active duty military have the similar clauses in the Serviceman's Life Insurance Policy. These families collected on both policies plus NASA has agreed to "take care of" all the families and pay for the kids educations. The policies carry some big disclaimers like the Shuttle is an "experimental vehicle" which means high risk of death so the premiums are pretty high.
Eleven of the 14 mangers in that (in)decision making loop have been reassigned or have left NASA. No one at NASA seems to know or is allowed to say where these ex-managers have been reassigned to! Mark Dittimore who was the Manager for the Shuttle Program retired and left, but he had planned to leave[no one will say they now employ him!] and had filed for it before Columbia launched. The only other one I have heard about was Roy Bridges the head of KSC during the launch and he has been asked to head the new NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) over at Langley,VA.
Interested observers are invited to try http://nasawatch.com [good inside info, but not an offical NASA site].The NASA Safety motto that is expressed at the part of NASA I support is: "If it isn't safe, Say So....and then clean out your desk".
Nasty Lawyers!! RIAA DROPPED the case before the judge could dismiss with prejudice. If dissmissed with prejudice they could not refile the same charges. So they beat the judge to the punch and in effect "reserved" the right to sue Granny. Why would Granny be downloading anything but Golden Oldies or is RIAA collecting on these artists even after some are dead? IIRC, Kazza is not available for the Mac.
Really? NASA had Solar Observing Satelittes in 1903? ;) We have been LOOKING at the sun for a long time, but not STUDYING it more than about 25yrs. We STILL don't know all that much about the sun's cycles (like why do sunspots happen and what do they do to the weather?) and how much solar radiation affects weather and global warming. Like some said are we just looking at a local maximum and not seeing the whole cycle? Antartic ice cores have shown warmer and colder periods dating back tens of thousands of years. We should not be alarmed nor should we have our heads in the sand. Solid Peer-Reviewed research needs to be done over a period of time.
The ATM function is a simple Finite State Machine with about a dozen states. Wait for User, Read Card, Read PIN, Validate PIN, Access Account, Verify Money in Account, Disburse Money, Print Receipt, Update Account Balance, Ask for another Transaction, Give Back Card, back to Wait. Several CS textbooks use an ATM as the FSM example for students.
You DO NOT need a O/S for this, you don't have any complex tasking, everything is sequential, you need drivers for screen, Card Reader, Network and Printer. This hardly calls for Windows or even an embedded type OS like VxWorks. The reason you get Windows is for the bank to add "bells and whistles" like advertisements for the bank's car loans or the local Karoke bar. Or to let you talk to the ATM or some other overly complex silliness. Just give me my money (quickly and accurate) and I'm happy. I think this is the Wintel mononoply finding a spot to sell chips and software that are NOT really needed.
Since it's on Broadway I guess they will get to "sing and dance a lot". I can just imagine the Audience Participation as in Rocky Horror. A whole audience yelling "Ni" might be rough on the actors ;)
Isn't SPAM (either kind) on Dogshit redundant?
This wouldn't surprise me that when SCO stock is sold M$ thru a shell company buys. This is a way around a hostile takeover or PR nightmare buyout. Its not illegal. In the not so long run SCO is ready to go under and M$ offers a "white knight" offer to buy or takeover as the majority stockholder, so the "poor stockholders and creditors " don't lose all thier money in bankruptcy. Then M$ owns the SCO "IP". The legal action with IBM, RedHat, et. al. can be funded by the deep pockets in Redmond. They win the case and they get rid of Linux, and deal a $3B blow to IBM. Then there ARE no competitors to WinDoze. This is one of the tricks used by Rockefeller in the 1920's to Standard Oil into what it was. Gates is not stupid, he's studied history.
C&H Great? Heck Yea!! Greatest ever? My Vote goes to "Bloom County". I miss that one. Good thing Breathed does not work for SCO, he'd be suing for the Linux Penquin infrining on Opus.