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It's times like this that I think everyone can be proud to be part of the human race.
by fl3tch 14y ago
It's times like this that I think everyone can be proud to be part of the human race.
- arethuza 14y agoPersonally, I think the tax payers of the United States deserve a round of applause from the rest of us for funding such a mission. It's not that other countries can't do this - we just don't want to pay for it...
- alanfalcon 14y agoI saw a Twitter comment during the celebration suggesting that NASA run a $30B Kickstarter to fund the first manned mission to Mars. [Setting aside legal issues] would the human race come together and pay for it? I like to think "yes", it would be a successful funding effort.
- robryan 14y agoYeah, wish Australia would take a more active role in space exploration.
- flgb 14y agoSome of the tracking stations for the project are in Australia, including the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex. Perhaps it's a small contribution but Australia is definitely involved.
- waterlesscloud 14y agoAccording to some tweets I saw, the first images back came through Canberra.
- petitmiam 14y agoTime for a sequel to 'The Dish'.
- robryan 14y agoYeah, I am more talking about putting up some real money towards these missions. We are a rich first world country, would love to see the American space budget cuts made up for more internationally, especially on the science based robotic missions and space telescopes. I would imagine that a lot of the communications stuff has a lot to do with geography and would probably happen without Australian government funding.
- yitchelle 14y agoAustralia has always been a backend operator. Similar for NASA other missions. It has provided the third contact point for when earth spins around which puts the other two contacts point out of reach.
- pilsetnieks 14y agoThey even did a movie about it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0205873/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0205873/
- yitchelle 14y agoVisited the Parkes telescope about 12mths after the movie launched, and can totally understand playing cricket on that surface. Ideal shape for playing cricket with only a batsman and a bowler. Sorry had to drop a cricket reference here...
- mattdeboard 14y agoDon't clap too long, NASA has long been on the funding chopping block, and there are far too many who would like to see it eliminated completely. They don't care that they are putting vehicles on Mars. They're too myopic to even think about what the future might look like. 2.5 billion dollars to put Curiosity on Mars. That's is a little more than double of what NBC paid to air the Olympics[1]. Imagine what they could do if we doubled their budget from half a percent of the federal budget[2] to 1%. 1. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/olympics-fans-ways-circumvent-nbcs-online-control-010417267--oly.html http://sports.yahoo.com/news/olympics-fans-ways-circumvent-n... 2. http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/622643main_FY%2013%20Budget%20Presentation.pdf http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/622643main_FY%2013%20Budget%20Presen...
- arethuza 14y agoSo the UK could have had 6 Curiosity rovers for the price of the Olympics.... NB I do think the Olympics has been a good thing - but I do wonder about the value for money....
- tinco 14y agoThat the price was 10 billion does not mean the cost was that. They might even make a profit since they sell the sponsorships, broadcasting rights and tickets not to mention the stimulus of the local economy. Sinking 2 billion into something that yields no direct monetary profit, that's a bold move for any country. They did not even sell broadcasting rights!
- lonnyk 14y ago>Sinking 2 billion into something that yields no direct monetary profit, that's a bold move for any country. You need to look at what is spun off from the projects. If you look at that I'm sure the 2 billion will seem like a pitance. http://spinoff.nasa.gov/spinoff/database http://spinoff.nasa.gov/spinoff/database
- arethuza 14y agoSomehow I suspect the long-term economic benefits of investing in the technology capable of sending the Curiosity rover to Mars are greater than those from building some sports buildings that are pretty much exactly the same as some built 4 years ago in another city and will be repeated again in another 4 years in some other city.
- zerostar07 14y agoBragging to whom?
- gbvb 14y agoTo the martians, of course. Don't you think they will have tax payer concerns like the rest of us? why do you think they have not visited us in such a long time. :)
- zerostar07 14y agoI thought they had ;)