Mars rover

[walks with gun]

It just had to be not 15 minutes after they dropped the mars rover, the windows came down and someone threw out several pop cans and fast food wrappers.

[gamekeeper]

[bdhold]

actually, I don't think we'll ever see that.
I was watching NASA this morning, and they have learned from this trip that a one-way trip to Mars is a lifetime radiation dose for an astronaut.
God did a great job making our planet.

[Pitchy]

God did a great job making our planet.

Yepper and the only one man will live on in the flesh.

[bdhold]

The aurora borealis is the plasma produced by the earth's electromagnetic field absorbing cosmic radiation.
Until we can learn how to duplicate that effect on a space ship, we won't be sending people to Mars.

[bdhold]

It just had to be not 15 minutes after they dropped the mars rover, the windows came down and someone threw out several pop cans and fast food wrappers.

Heard they also picked up a hitchiker, and got in a fight with him over the beef jerkey

[Old Ironsights]

actually, I don't think we'll ever see that.
I was watching NASA this morning, and they have learned from this trip that a one-way trip to Mars is a lifetime radiation dose for an astronaut.
God did a great job making our planet.

NASA and the world .govs have a vested interest in keeping the Proles on the ground and not in space.

You think the .govs are afraid of individualists with guns, just wait until we can throw rocks at them from high orbit.

I wouldn't trust a NASA scientist any further than I can throw the NASA geeb who keeps hawking "Global warming".

[bdhold]

it wasn't stated that way, it was in a press conference and the answer was stated in terms of the total Sievert dosage measured from the one-way-trip background radiation (first time ever measured), in response to a pointed question from a Japanese science reporter - I extrapolated the rest, though the Japanese reporter implied it.
But you're welcome to go threaten organized government from whatever vantage point you choose.

and btw, I am going to be blocking you now - I won't be speaking to you again - life's too short to respond to anarchists on the internet.

[Blaine]

Actually, NASA workers, former and present, have evidence that global warming was bunk. Nice try.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/1 ... 18017.html

I'll buy off on climate change as a naturally occurring dynamic of the planet.

[bdhold]

As I've said before, Hubble should be required viewing for citizens of planet Earth, so they can share a bit of perspective with NASA personnel.
Too many people equate the minds of NASA with what they see on television "documentary" (no, that's f'n entertainment - the Storage Wars of pseudoscience and pop culture).

[Old Ironsights]

Actually, NASA workers, former and present, have evidence that global warming was bunk. Nice try.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/1 ... 18017.html

Note that they are protesting NASA's official stance.

Then there is this: http://climate.nasa.gov/

and this: http://www.newser.com/story/151504/nasa ... waves.html

and this: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/08/n ... l-warming/

The geeb responsible for this stuff is the HEAD of NASA's "climate" division: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen and is a typical Left Wing Protester:

On June 23, 2009, James Hansen, along with 30 other protesters including actress Daryl Hannah, was arrested on misdemeanor charges of obstructing police and impeding traffic, during a protest against mountaintop removal mining in Raleigh County, West Virginia.[85] The protesters intended to enter the property of Massey Energy Company, but were blocked by a crowd of several hundred coal miners and supporters.[86] Hansen said that mountaintop removal for coal mining "[provides] only a small fraction of our energy" and "should be abolished."[87] Hansen called on President Barack Obama to abolish mountaintop coal mining.[88]
Hansen and about 100 other people were arrested in September 2010 in front of the White House in Washington, DC. The group was seeking a ban on mountaintop removal or surface mining.[89]
Hansen and 142 other activists were arrested in August 2011, at another demonstration in front of the White House. Hansen urged President Obama to reject the Keystone pipeline extension intended to carry more synthetic crude oil from Canada's Athabasca Oil Sands to US markets.[90]

NASA is a Political organization with a political agenda being run by political hacks.

I'll buy off on climate change as a naturally occurring dynamic of the planet.

And that is the correct answer.

[Old Ironsights]

it wasn't stated that way, it was in a press conference and the answer was stated in terms of the total Sievert dosage measured from the one-way-trip background radiation (first time ever measured), in response to a pointed question from a Japanese science reporter - I extrapolated the rest, though the Japanese reporter implied it.
But you're welcome to go threaten organized government from whatever vantage point you choose.

and btw, I am going to be blocking you now - I won't be speaking to you again - life's too short to respond to anarchists on the internet.

I'm heartbroken.

FWIW, if we don't get off our rears, disband NASA and the hold the .gov has on space exploration, any survival of the US system will be made moot in a very short time.

Why? Because as soon as China succeeds in their plans for the moon, they won't even have to threaten us with nukes to get their way. The ability to throw rocks from the moon will be sufficient to destabilize governments world wide and will make China the De-facto ruler of the World.

Now, tell me again why the .gov NASA and their strangle-hold on space exploration is a good thing?

[AJMD429]

Why? Because as soon as China succeeds in their plans for the moon, they won't even have to threaten us with nukes to get their way. The ability to throw rocks from the moon will be sufficient to destabilize governments world wide and will make China the De-facto ruler of the World.

As Neal Boortz put it,

• "SOME nation will always by definition be the toughest on the planet, and therefore hold the final veto on any arbitrary aggression from other nations. . . logically, it either has to be the U.S., or not the U.S. . . . which other nation would you want it to be. . . ?"

Remember, whatever nation it is, is not one other nations could count on 'influencing' or even 'negotiating' with, should it ever come to a conflict unresolvable diplomatically.

Sorry, but I prefer to be the nation that is 'king of the hill', and yet I want that nation to be a stable and safe one, which demands that it NOT be a 'democratic' nation, nor one dominted by the Democrat party OR Republican party, both of which feel the use of force to suppress financial/material freedom or moral/spiritual freedom, respectively, is legitimate.

The initiation of force is NEVER appropriate, but maintaining the best ability to counter initiation of force with superior force IS very legitimate.

I agree that disallowing the free-market in space may well be a destabilizing move for us all.

[Blaine]

disallowing the free-market in space

I believe private enterprise has established a toehold in space....

[Old Ironsights]

disallowing the free-market in space

I believe private enterprise has established a toehold in space....

Barely. Under protest, Low Earth Orbit only, with .gov caveats restrictions and conditions.

Build too big/novel a lift system/rocket without .gov oversight and you still go to jail.

[Blaine]

disallowing the free-market in space

I believe private enterprise has established a toehold in space....

Barely. Under protest, Low Earth Orbit only, with .gov caveats restrictions and conditions.

Build too big/novel a lift system/rocket without .gov oversight and you still go to jail.

You can only change it if you're in it Keep relying on fringe candidates that never will voice your side, and your change will never happen

Build too big/novel a lift system/rocket without .gov oversight and you still go to jail

Can you prove that? Nowhere in this article did I see mention of ..."company lawyers desperately trying to keep Paul Allen out of jail...." Engage browser before turning on your inner anarchist

[Old Ironsights]

disallowing the free-market in space

I believe private enterprise has established a toehold in space....

Barely. Under protest, Low Earth Orbit only, with .gov caveats restrictions and conditions.

Build too big/novel a lift system/rocket without .gov oversight and you still go to jail.

You can only change it if you're in it Keep relying on fringe candidates that never will voice your side, and your change will never happen

The "Mainstream" candidates don't voice my side either...

Build too big/novel a lift system/rocket without .gov oversight and you still go to jail

Can you prove that? Nowhere in this article did I see mention of ..."company lawyers desperately trying to keep Paul Allen out of jail...." Engage browser before turning on your inner anarchist

Since the articles I linked to weren't trying to prove that point, I would have been surprised if they had.

However,

Deregulation of unmanned private spaceflight didn't occur until 1984. On October 30, 1984, United States President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Commercial Space Launch Act.[8] This enabled an American industry of private operators of expendable launch systems. Prior to the signing of this law, all commercial satellite launches in the United States were restricted by Federal regulation to NASA's Space Shuttle.

and prior to 2004 MANNED private spaceflight was effectively banned. In December 2004, United States President George W. Bush signed in to law the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act.[21] The Act resolved the regulatory ambiguity surrounding private spaceflights and is designed to promote the development of the emerging U.S. commercial human space flight industry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_spaceflight

[shooter]

Space exploration is very interesting, and there are a lot of cool things in space, but IMO, NASA is the biggest waste of money our gov't is involved in. If private companies want to fund space exploration, I'm all for it, but we have much more pressing issues on this planet. We shouldn't be spending billions of dollars to go exploring Mars when we don't even know how to run this country. We would be far more technologically advanced in the space program if the gov had nothing to do with it.

[Old Ironsights]

Private companies wanted to, and were in the process of before Kennedy nationalized space launches and emphasized bog boosters over the spaceplanes already on the boards...

[olyinaz]

Look, absent an Amendment granting our God given rights to something (and isn't it interesting that we need Amendments to "grant" us God given rights...) it WILL be regulated if it's something that has the potential to kill a lot of people and wreak some serious havoc. As a huge missile certainly could. There's no conspiracy in that - it's simple human nature working in conjunction with majority-rules democracy. The frady-cats who run/ruin our lives don't want YOU building an ICBM in your barn just because you can!

The only reason we still have guns while our Western (and Aussie and Kiwi) friends largely don't is because of the 2nd Amendment. If only there were a Motorized Vehicle Amendment!!

Oly

[bdhold]

Space exploration is very interesting, and there are a lot of cool things in space, but IMO, NASA is the biggest waste of money our gov't is involved in. If private companies want to fund space exploration, I'm all for it, but we have much more pressing issues on this planet. We shouldn't be spending billions of dollars to go exploring Mars when we don't even know how to run this country. We would be far more technologically advanced in the space program if the gov had nothing to do with it.

easy to say, but NASA is the single greatest economic stimulus in human history.
We reap the rewards in employment, education, environment, medicine, manufacturing, science, real estate, infrastructure, society, diplomacy.
Taking the same money and putting it directly into those expenses is throwing the money away.

one tiny example
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2004/ap ... _pump.html
A space shuttle micropump design has been patented to keep child heart patients alive until suitable donors can be found for them. You cannot put a value on the results of NASA technology and R&D.

Most people are ignorant enough to remember JFK only for conspiracy theories and scandal innuendo on cheap television, and gutless Hollywood, but NASA WAS his enduring legacy. The only way the most important investment of our lives can be realized and the legacy can continue is for NASA to have goals and missions. The shuttle needs to be replaced and capitalized for earth-orbit transport. Zero-gravity manufacturing needs to be researched and exploited. And we need to continue to probe our solar system, and measure our universe. We don't know what we will discover. That is why we explore. What comes out of it is everything I listed above.

If we don't do it, the Japanese will, and the Chinese will turn Earth orbit into a weapon.

It was Kennedy's and especially LBJ's goals all along to employ everybody in NASA spin-offs and thereby fund the welfare state.

[Old Ironsights]

... The frady-cats who run/ruin our lives don't want YOU building an ICBM in your barn just because you can! ... Oly

Thing is, the ICBM meme wasn't the direction spaceflight was headed until NASA took it over. All offf the aerospace companies were developing space planes. Rutan and his space plane project is just reverting to the research being done in the early '60s by Rockwell, General Dynamics et.al.

Just look at Kubric's 2001: made before space flight was nationalized/socialized by NASA. Space Planes, flown by TWA to a space station with a Howard Johnson's desk. THAT was the reality that was in process before NASA killed it.

[Old Ironsights]

Space exploration is very interesting, and there are a lot of cool things in space, but IMO, NASA is the biggest waste of money our gov't is involved in. If private companies want to fund space exploration, I'm all for it, but we have much more pressing issues on this planet. We shouldn't be spending billions of dollars to go exploring Mars when we don't even know how to run this country. We would be far more technologically advanced in the space program if the gov had nothing to do with it.

easy to say, but NASA is the single greatest economic stimulus in human history.
We reap the rewards in employment, education, environment, medicine, manufacturing, science, real estate, infrastructure, society, diplomacy.
Taking the same money and putting it directly into those expenses is throwing the money away.

OK then... we take money OUT of the economy through confiscatory taxation and run it through a .gov program that is continually skimming it with typical fraud, waste and abuse, to get a net result that is BETTER than what private industry can achieve?

You ought to write speeches for the DemoComunist Party.

one tiny example
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2004/ap ... _pump.html
A space shuttle micropump design has been patented to keep child heart patients alive until suitable donors can be found for them. You cannot put a value on the results of NASA technology and R&D.

Sure I can. It's a heck of a lot smaller than if other companies with a profit motive had been pursuing the same goals for the past 50 years. If you don't think so, then go back and look at the article that discusses why your i-phone camera has better resolution than the cameras on the Rover.

Most people are ignorant enough to remember JFK only for conspiracy theories and scandal innuendo on cheap television, and gutless Hollywood, but NASA WAS his enduring legacy.

Obozo is hoping that his socializing of medicine will be looked upon as fondly as Kennedy's socializing of space exploration.

The only way the most important investment of our lives can be realized and the legacy can continue is for NASA to have goals and missions. The shuttle needs to be replaced and capitalized for earth-orbit transport. Zero-gravity manufacturing needs to be researched and exploited. And we need to continue to probe our solar system, and measure our universe. We don't know what we will discover. That is why we explore. What comes out of it is everything I listed above.

We were well on our way to doing all that before Kennedy SOCIALIZED space exploration and took all of the potential for realized profit out of it. Everything you mentioned has been researched and then shelved. Why? because there is no way to profit from it under the NASA system.

If we don't do it, the Japanese will, and the Chinese will turn Earth orbit into a weapon.

It's probably too late to stop that now. Space Exploration in the US is about Politics, not Profit, so there is less incentive to play... unless you are suggesting we become even MORE socialized so we can compete with the Chinese System...

It was Kennedy's and especially LBJ's goals all along to employ everybody in NASA spin-offs and thereby fund the welfare state.

And you approve of this?

How about NOT having a welfare state? How about private industry being free to develop space in a profitable manner? Seems that would be a better employment model than taking my extorted tax dollars to try to "employ" people in government subsidiaries.