Home » General Chat » Circular File » The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
| Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT! |
Mon, 29 December 2003 12:05   |
|
 EDog |
 | Lt. Junior Grade |
Messages: 417
Registered: November 2002
Location: Denver, Colorado, USA | |
|
| alexdstewart wrote on Sun, 28 December 2003 15:33 |
Has anyone got any plausable explanations for the high failure rate of interplanetary probes to Mars? 
|
Better. Cheaper. Faster. I believe that has been NASA's motto over the past decade. Because the US Congress isn't willing to give NASA more than a fraction of budgetary concern, they are forced to do everything via the lowest bidder. It's the Wal-Mart philosophy. Why pay $50 for a hammer when you can get one for $.20, and who cares if it breaks, because it was so cheap you can go out and buy a hundred more?
On the other hand, if the $50 hammer is a much more reliable creation, with more built-in failsafes (although it's beyond my technical expertise to imagine failsafes in a hammer...), perhaps it's a better investment after all...
The simple truth is that we've lost our desire to explore, to blaze new frontiers yada yada yada. It's really a pity, because our country (America) was founded by explorers (Yes, I know the Native Americans were here first, but I'm not trying to start another political diatribe - I'm trying to make a point). America was the last "frontier" on earth. Now that we've conquered it, we are slowly eating ourselves from within.
In biology, a life form that doesn't grow and reproduce is dying. As a race, we are dying, because we aren't growing beyond the boundaries of our own world. Every once in awhile something happens that gives me a glimmer of hope - the International Space Station, while mostly a political hot potato, has shown that man can live and work in space. The space shuttle showed that orbital flights can be made relatively inexpensively (never mind the two disasters, the low overall failure rate was impressive). Private citizens can buy trips into space on Russian rockets, showing that there is still a demand and an interest in what lies beyond our fragile envelope of atmosphere. Undersea exploration and arctic bases show that we can survive in environments inhospital to our lives. Nuclear
...
http://ianthealy.com
Born, grew up, became an adventurer
Report message to a moderator
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
|
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
By: Staz on Sun, 28 December 2003 18:16 |
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
|
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
By: donjon on Mon, 29 December 2003 06:07 |
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
By: Staz on Sun, 28 December 2003 18:20 |
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
By: Staz on Mon, 29 December 2003 09:01 |
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
By: EDog on Mon, 29 December 2003 12:05 |
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
By: donjon on Mon, 29 December 2003 16:41 |
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
|
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
By: PapaBear on Tue, 30 December 2003 00:55 |
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
By: Staz on Mon, 29 December 2003 17:52 |
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
By: EDog on Mon, 29 December 2003 19:14 |
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
|
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
|
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
|
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
|
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
|
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
|
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
By: icebird on Tue, 13 January 2004 19:33 |
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
|
|
|
Re: The "Beagle" has landed, NOT!
|
Goto Forum:
Current Time: Sun Jun 16 21:06:51 EDT 2024
|
Members
Search
Help
Register
Login
Home
