3 ms·

well we don't get paid jack. 99.9 % of the science undertook is boring, inconclusive or negative results. The only carrot is prestige, and the only perks are h

well we don't get paid jack. 99.9 % of the science undertook is boring, inconclusive or negative results. The only carrot is prestige, and the only perks are holidays ... I dunno why you suggested money because there is none (in wages). I expect a big reason for not releasing the data is ... who is gonna do the necessary steps to release the data? You want to take a scientist off his role to build a website and database?? We have little administrative support (probably JPL has better, but still, yet another distraction that eats time from our main job that pays too little). The people that make websites for a living get paid better the scientists, so its a bit harsh to expect scientists to constantly be building website to share data whilst paying them under the industry norms.

danesparza 13y ago
In his article, the OP mentions "$2.5 billion taxpayer dollars that made it possible". Sorry you don't get paid as much as you'd like -- that doesn't give you the moral high ground. Doing it for "prestige" still isn't a good reason. At a cost of 2.5 billion, I don't think it's too harsh to expect a small budget for releasing the data publicly.
- barry-cotter 13y ago
  I sympathise with your goals but you're being a douche. Science is a crap career if you're chasing money. You're a smart college graduate with excellent grades who spends 4-7 years doing an apprenticeship for piss poor money, then a postdoc, for three years, maybe a second postdoc, and if you're lucky you then get a tenure track position. Now you have seven years of earning high school teacher money but working 60-80 hours a week and at the end of it there's an excellent chance you'll be fired. People do science for love or glory, not money. (Except people from 2nd or 3rd world countries studying or postdocing in industrial nations. For them it's a sweet deal.)
  - pm90 13y ago
    (Except people from 2nd or 3rd world countries studying or postdocing in industrial nations. For them it's a sweet deal.) Reminded me of this article:http://wuphys.wustl.edu/~katz/scientist.html http://wuphys.wustl.edu/~katz/scientist.html
mturmon 13y ago
"I expect a big reason for not releasing the data is..." No, no, no. The data are released. The mission pays people to properly calibrate, process, and format the data. NASA then pays to host the data indefinitely. The basic link for planetary data is http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov . There are other sites for Earth, solar, astrophysical, etc., data. Source: I know the people who run PDS. The kerfuffle in the thread is about derived papers, in some cases by non-US collaborators, not the data itself. To the extent it is about data, it's about the post-capture embargo period of a couple of months (in the case of initial Mars data).

danesparza 13y ago

In his article, the OP mentions "$2.5 billion taxpayer dollars that made it possible". Sorry you don't get paid as much as you'd like -- that doesn't give you the moral high ground. Doing it for "prestige" still isn't a good reason. At a cost of 2.5 billion, I don't think it's too harsh to expect a small budget for releasing the data publicly.

barry-cotter 13y ago
I sympathise with your goals but you're being a douche. Science is a crap career if you're chasing money. You're a smart college graduate with excellent grades who spends 4-7 years doing an apprenticeship for piss poor money, then a postdoc, for three years, maybe a second postdoc, and if you're lucky you then get a tenure track position. Now you have seven years of earning high school teacher money but working 60-80 hours a week and at the end of it there's an excellent chance you'll be fired. People do science for love or glory, not money. (Except people from 2nd or 3rd world countries studying or postdocing in industrial nations. For them it's a sweet deal.)
- pm90 13y ago
  (Except people from 2nd or 3rd world countries studying or postdocing in industrial nations. For them it's a sweet deal.) Reminded me of this article:http://wuphys.wustl.edu/~katz/scientist.html http://wuphys.wustl.edu/~katz/scientist.html

mturmon 13y ago

"I expect a big reason for not releasing the data is..." No, no, no. The data are released. The mission pays people to properly calibrate, process, and format the data. NASA then pays to host the data indefinitely. The basic link for planetary data is http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov . There are other sites for Earth, solar, astrophysical, etc., data. Source: I know the people who run PDS. The kerfuffle in the thread is about derived papers, in some cases by non-US collaborators, not the data itself. To the extent it is about data, it's about the post-capture embargo period of a couple of months (in the case of initial Mars data).