TOPIC: Crazy space stuff

TOO FUNNY

Do you think RoadRunner will make his save roll?

If it's a reflex save...you bet!

ehehehehhee. *smiles* Road Runner has a mad Dex score! Mad skillz I tell you, mad skillz!<br />hehehehe

<br />Fantastic Douglas,<br />I was looking at Saturn the other night with my little telescope, and now I feel like a child in the presence of a master.  Really neat stuff.<br />Teach me Obi Wan.<br />Widseth<br />

<br /><br />Thanks Widseth but truth be told, I am hardly a "Master".  =^)  My mental limits are clearly visible by the brilliant people that I work with.<br /><br />I am happy to hear though that you were looking at Saturn.  I can still remember the first time I looked at Saturn through a telescope as a child.  I literally lost my breath.

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<br />To say that this has been a CRAZY week for me on my project (Cassini), doesn’t even begin to cover it.  And for those that might be interested in the goings on at JPL, I thought I would share.

<br /><br />Wow - a real life space geek here in our midst.  I'm really hoping we can get our act together soon and get the Mars mission moving.  It's been almost 40 years - it's time to take our next giant step in the universe.<br />

<br /><br />Hey Nekura,<br /><br />I assume you are talking about a manned-mission to Mars.  There are actually a number of spacecraft (and two little rovers) that are currently at Mars and collecting an enormous amount of data as we speak... er... type.  =^)<br /><br />While it is possible right now, a manned-mission to Mars would be [glow=gold,2,300]extremely[/glow] expensive and I'm not sure that the public is ready for a $100 Billion space program.  But the current administration is in the process of shifting funds to support the first stages of the Moon/Mars Initiatives.<br />

<br />LOL! That is a riot Dave!<br /><br />heheheheheee<br />

<br /><br />Actually, from what I know of Dave, I think he was serious when he put this together!  :icon_thumleft:

Except for one diamond at the bottom having to out lines, both saying "yes," it looked like a pretty valid, and useful, flow chart to me.<br /><br />

Only half, it was 1AM afterall.:confused1:<br /><br />Granted the professional part of me doesn't want to put something out there that is blatantly wrong, but the sarcastic part of me won out with the terminator statement of "Leave", and writing things in the first person.  So yes, it is essentially correct (with a few mistakes I am sure), but it really was not created as a tool for extensive use.<br />If people really like it, I guess I can fix it. <br /><br />As a Director, I guess not only do I check my Ego at the door, but my sarcasm too. <br /><br />Here is a better flow chart, given to me over 10 years ago by my first boss (the week I started), enjoy.<br /><br />Dave<br /><br />[attachment deleted by admin]

<br />I assume you are talking about a manned-mission to Mars.  There are actually a number of spacecraft (and two little rovers) that are currently at Mars and collecting an enormous amount of data as we speak... er... type.  =^)

<br /><br />Yep - I do indeed mean a manned mission.  While it would be expensive, imagine the pluses:<br /><br /> - New technology (everything from rechargeable screwdrivers to advances in computer chips came out of Apollo)<br /><br /> - *JOBS* (tons of aerospace and manufacturing jobs would open up giving the economy a kick in the rear)<br /><br /> - Return on Investment (for every $1 put into the Apollo space program, we got $7 back into the U.S. economy due to technological advances, jobs, and so on)<br /><br /> - Get kids psyched about science again (we need a new generation of engineers and scientists)<br /><br /> - Boost to the national pride (give us all something to rally around again)<br /><br />Yeah, the sticker price is a lot to bear, but the government just tried to raise $1 Trillion dollars to give everyone a $100 gas tax rebate so the money could be found somewhere.  We've gone from Kennedy's "we will go to the moon in this decade" to spending $15 billion a year on the space truck (Space Shuttle) that the current NASA administrators are afraid to even attempt to fly (even if it means losing the Hubble, one of our greatest cost-to-science investments ever).  (And yes - it's $15 Billion a year even it just sits on the ground.)<br /><br />Today's NASA is just a shadow of what it was 40 years ago. 

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<br />I assume you are talking about a manned-mission to Mars.  There are actually a number of spacecraft (and two little rovers) that are currently at Mars and collecting an enormous amount of data as we speak... er... type.  =^)

<br /><br />Yep - I do indeed mean a manned mission.  While it would be expensive, imagine the pluses:<br /><br /> - New technology (everything from rechargeable screwdrivers to advances in computer chips came out of Apollo)<br /><br /> - *JOBS* (tons of aerospace and manufacturing jobs would open up giving the economy a kick in the rear)<br /><br /> - Return on Investment (for every $1 put into the Apollo space program, we got $7 back into the U.S. economy due to technological advances, jobs, and so on)<br /><br /> - Get kids psyched about science again (we need a new generation of engineers and scientists)<br /><br /> - Boost to the national pride (give us all something to rally around again)<br /><br />Yeah, the sticker price is a lot to bear, but the government just tried to raise $1 Trillion dollars to give everyone a $100 gas tax rebate so the money could be found somewhere.  We've gone from Kennedy's "we will go to the moon in this decade" to spending $15 billion a year on the space truck (Space Shuttle) that the current NASA administrators are afraid to even attempt to fly (even if it means losing the Hubble, one of our greatest cost-to-science investments ever).  (And yes - it's $15 Billion a year even it just sits on the ground.)<br /><br />Today's NASA is just a shadow of what it was 40 years ago.  <br />

<br /><br />Nekura,<br /><br />Thanks for the notes and kind words about the benefits of NASA.  Needless to say, I agree.  From time to time, however, people have brought up that money for NASA could be better spent on other things like Healthcare.    But, due to technology developed by NASA, we have already seen drastic improvements in material science, computers, manufacturing, public safety, health, nutrition, and transportation.  In Healthcare alone there have been discoveries and advancements in:<br /><br />Brest Cancer detection<br />Laser Angioplasty<br />Programmable Pacemakers <br />Ocular Screening <br />Gas Analyzers <br />Voice Recognition<br />Arteriosclerosis detection<br />Ultrasound scanners<br />Automatic insulin pump<br />Portable x-ray device<br />Implantable heart aid<br />MRI<br />Bone analyzer<br />Cataract surgery tools<br />and many more.<br /><br />While I agree that the Space Shuttle is a money sink and should probably be scrapped in favor of a less expensive alternative, I'll correct one thing you mentioned.  NASA's TOTAL budget is on the order of $15B per year.  The Space Shuttle makes up only a fraction of that, around 30% for training, operations, maintenance, and the launches themselves. <br /><br />The only problem I have with the Moon/Mars Initiative is that the Bush Administration expects Apollo like results yet the funding for NASA is only 1/4 of what it was during the Apollo program and money is being syphoned away from pure science as a result of this vacuum (i.e. JPL is laying off people and canceling projects).    <br /><br />But Cassini continues to chug its way around Saturn so my job is safe.... for now. 

<br />While I agree that the Space Shuttle is a money sink and should probably be scrapped in favor of a less expensive alternative, I'll correct one thing you mentioned.  NASA's TOTAL budget is on the order of $15B per year.  The Space Shuttle makes up only a fraction of that, around 30% for training, operations, maintenance, and the launches themselves.

<br /><br />Oops, you're right - that should have been $5 billion (or 30% of the total).  Thanks for the correction!  (The figure I was remembering was that the shuttle hasn't flown in three years, so we've spent $15 billion to support a non-flying spacecraft.)<br /><br />The "Bush Initiative" was "we should think about going to Mars, and my predecessor will take us there".  We need a solid plan with a solid goal with realistic funding if it's going to happen.  <br /><br />I also think this administration is running away from science for the sake of discovery.  Some of the best things science has brought about were due to research for the sake of finding out "what if" and not research toward any specific goal.  We need to be open to that and not just fund projects that have snappy titles on the annual budget.<br /><br />In the short term, we need to get up and fix the Hubble.  The money's already been spent, we just need to get the NASA administration to realize that 50:1 is actually a pretty good safety ratio and a minimum risk compared to the huge discoveries that we've been making with Hubble.