Probably will never be known. I have - on and off - over time, been cobbling together bits and pieces (some experience, some plagiarism and some wit) to try to make a storyline - hopefully one that kids will find engaging. You can find it here... (http://eclecticplanet.org). I welcome constructive criticism, and some good humours.
David DelMonte
Probably will never be known. I have - on and off - over time, been cobbling together bits and pieces (some experience, some plagiarism and some wit) to try to make a storyline - hopefully one that kids will find engaging. You can find it here... (http://eclecticplanet.org). I welcome constructive criticism, and some good humours.
David DelMonte
There is a spacecraft on it's way to Pluto (New Horizons), Messenger is on it's way to Mercury, Dawn is on it's way to Vesta and Ceres. Deep Impact has been reprogramed in situ to visit Comet Hartley, and Cassini has been extended at least two years.
We have a mapping mission to the moon (LRO) as we actually don't have very detailed topographic maps of 80+% of the surface. The list continues.
The Mars Science Laboratory will hopefully land where we've recently discovered seasonal methane. This lander is like a Hummer compared to the Rovers being like dune buggies.
This need not have been the only new flagship mission to be sure, but there are others on their way; and I'm not sure that the door is closed to twin missions anyway.
Quoting from the JPL Website "NASA and ESA engineers and scientists carefully studied both potential missions in preparation for last week's meeting. Based on these and other studies as well as stringent independent assessment reviews, NASA and ESA agreed that the Europa Jupiter System Mission, called Laplace in Europe, was the most technically feasible to do first. However, ESA's Solar System Working Group concluded the scientific merits of this mission and a Titan Saturn System Mission could not be separated. The group recommended, and NASA agreed, that both missions should move forward for further study and implementation".
Further, we are not the only countries now with spacecraft launch and development capabilities. Japan, China, Russia and India have their programs too. If only we survive this economic mess without resorting to another war, maybe we will find a way to speed things up.
But right now all of NASA's programs represent about than.1% of the US Defense spending. What if it was.2%?
er. other countries knowing your country's financial information?
Seriously, I was a long time World Bank staff member - who left in disgust. I was in charge of some geographic regions' IT services.
Whatever you think of the "Big Bank", they have some incredible people on the ground, who really care for people in the countries in which they work. For example. people who try to stop deforestation while corrupt country officials are accepting private contracts, and people who, while waiting for road projects to be built, bought villagers bicycles out of their own funds. They also have people who couldn't care less, and want to pump out cash so they can look good on their annual performance reviews. So the place is at best mixed.
What it has done is to put out the word that poverty, illiteracy, nutrition and ill-health are global problems, and new industries (NGOs) have emerged that may be a better resource for the countries that the Bank itself. However, neither the Bank nor NGOs have any oversight, so that's hard to determine.
With regard to IT, and why I left in disgust - there were real experts there - people who know more about global IP services and building security services than any place I know (except for/. where everyone is an expert).
But gradually these people were sidelined by bureaucrats who didn't know shit from shinola with regard to IT, systems, and services. One security expert committed suicide. Others just gave up sadly and went on to other things.
They picked stupid technology, locked down systems so they did nothing innovative or helpful to the staff, but allowed hackers in. And they paid - and continue to pay - hundreds of millions of dollars for this crap. It sickens me. Truly.
The management of this group should all be fired. The last CIO was in deed fired but it was too late to prevent this damage.
Please all, remember that the total NASA budget - that is manned and robotic exploration - is 0.1% of the current military budget. Even with overspending and tardiness. It's hard to build these spacecraft. NASA is involved in more than 70 ongoing projects, most of which are focused on Earth science.
Think what we could find and use if the budget was just 0.2%.
My humble advice is to get involved, volunteer to learn about earth and space science, volunteer in schools and inform your families and friends of NASA activities. Make part of your life's work to keep our children and grandchildren smart, curious, and away from the rubbish fed to them by the media, their games and their temptations.
David DelMonte
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/
Whether there are or are not other life forms out there is in a way irrelevant. It merely points out the awesome responsibility WE have as a specie to grow up and behave ourselves. Let's assume on one hand, we are it. Then we have a responsibility to grow, explore, multiply, learn, and generally "be excellent with each other".
Let's assume on the other hand, we have company. Then don't we have the same responsibilities?
David
He is real. We worked together at the World Bank for years. Dee isn't a bad guy but didn't grow up with the "desktop revolution". He is a mainframe guy. Burroughs/Unisys actually. I can see why he says he supports Linux, but he is largely responsible for the World Bank - and as a result - other UN agencies - "locking down" their workstations, so that only ms rubbish was permitted. He was once a mac fan but that was thrown out. He pushed MS hard and fast. I don't like his analyses. I believe he's justifying his work.
The World Bank will have a new CIO and CTO in the next year or so, let's hope they are attuned, that they read/. and that they are open-minded.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm reminded of two expressions (sort of polar opposites).
1. Living well doesn't make you live longer, it just makes it seem longer.
2. Eubie Blake - at his 100th birthday - "If I'd have known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself"...
Probably will never be known. I have - on and off - over time, been cobbling together bits and pieces (some experience, some plagiarism and some wit) to try to make a storyline - hopefully one that kids will find engaging. You can find it here... (http://eclecticplanet.org). I welcome constructive criticism, and some good humours. David DelMonte
it would have been more helpful if I gave the exact link... http://eclecticplanet.org/tech/computer/
Probably will never be known. I have - on and off - over time, been cobbling together bits and pieces (some experience, some plagiarism and some wit) to try to make a storyline - hopefully one that kids will find engaging. You can find it here... (http://eclecticplanet.org). I welcome constructive criticism, and some good humours. David DelMonte
There actually are parallel missions.
.1% of the US Defense spending. What if it was .2%?
There is a spacecraft on it's way to Pluto (New Horizons), Messenger is on it's way to Mercury, Dawn is on it's way to Vesta and Ceres. Deep Impact has been reprogramed in situ to visit Comet Hartley, and Cassini has been extended at least two years.
We have a mapping mission to the moon (LRO) as we actually don't have very detailed topographic maps of 80+% of the surface. The list continues.
The Mars Science Laboratory will hopefully land where we've recently discovered seasonal methane. This lander is like a Hummer compared to the Rovers being like dune buggies.
This need not have been the only new flagship mission to be sure, but there are others on their way; and I'm not sure that the door is closed to twin missions anyway.
Quoting from the JPL Website "NASA and ESA engineers and scientists carefully studied both potential missions in preparation for last week's meeting. Based on these and other studies as well as stringent independent assessment reviews, NASA and ESA agreed that the Europa Jupiter System Mission, called Laplace in Europe, was the most technically feasible to do first. However, ESA's Solar System Working Group concluded the scientific merits of this mission and a Titan Saturn System Mission could not be separated. The group recommended, and NASA agreed, that both missions should move forward for further study and implementation".
Further, we are not the only countries now with spacecraft launch and development capabilities. Japan, China, Russia and India have their programs too. If only we survive this economic mess without resorting to another war, maybe we will find a way to speed things up.
But right now all of NASA's programs represent about than
Live long and prosper.
er. other countries knowing your country's financial information?
Seriously, I was a long time World Bank staff member - who left in disgust. I was in charge of some geographic regions' IT services.
Whatever you think of the "Big Bank", they have some incredible people on the ground, who really care for people in the countries in which they work. For example. people who try to stop deforestation while corrupt country officials are accepting private contracts, and people who, while waiting for road projects to be built, bought villagers bicycles out of their own funds. They also have people who couldn't care less, and want to pump out cash so they can look good on their annual performance reviews. So the place is at best mixed.
What it has done is to put out the word that poverty, illiteracy, nutrition and ill-health are global problems, and new industries (NGOs) have emerged that may be a better resource for the countries that the Bank itself. However, neither the Bank nor NGOs have any oversight, so that's hard to determine.
With regard to IT, and why I left in disgust - there were real experts there - people who know more about global IP services and building security services than any place I know (except for /. where everyone is an expert).
But gradually these people were sidelined by bureaucrats who didn't know shit from shinola with regard to IT, systems, and services. One security expert committed suicide. Others just gave up sadly and went on to other things.
They picked stupid technology, locked down systems so they did nothing innovative or helpful to the staff, but allowed hackers in. And they paid - and continue to pay - hundreds of millions of dollars for this crap. It sickens me. Truly.
The management of this group should all be fired. The last CIO was in deed fired but it was too late to prevent this damage.
grrrh
Please all, remember that the total NASA budget - that is manned and robotic exploration - is 0.1% of the current military budget. Even with overspending and tardiness. It's hard to build these spacecraft. NASA is involved in more than 70 ongoing projects, most of which are focused on Earth science. Think what we could find and use if the budget was just 0.2%. My humble advice is to get involved, volunteer to learn about earth and space science, volunteer in schools and inform your families and friends of NASA activities. Make part of your life's work to keep our children and grandchildren smart, curious, and away from the rubbish fed to them by the media, their games and their temptations. David DelMonte http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/
Whether there are or are not other life forms out there is in a way irrelevant. It merely points out the awesome responsibility WE have as a specie to grow up and behave ourselves. Let's assume on one hand, we are it. Then we have a responsibility to grow, explore, multiply, learn, and generally "be excellent with each other". Let's assume on the other hand, we have company. Then don't we have the same responsibilities? David
He is real. We worked together at the World Bank for years. Dee isn't a bad guy but didn't grow up with the "desktop revolution". He is a mainframe guy. Burroughs/Unisys actually. I can see why he says he supports Linux, but he is largely responsible for the World Bank - and as a result - other UN agencies - "locking down" their workstations, so that only ms rubbish was permitted. He was once a mac fan but that was thrown out. He pushed MS hard and fast. I don't like his analyses. I believe he's justifying his work. The World Bank will have a new CIO and CTO in the next year or so, let's hope they are attuned, that they read /. and that they are open-minded.