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2012-08-06 Science & Technology
American Exceptionalism - Mars landing
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Posted by Large Darling of the Antelope3345 2012-08-06 06:26|| || Front Page|| [9 views ]  Top

#1 And all of this helps my neighbor find a new job how ?
Posted by Besoeker 2012-08-06 08:16||   2012-08-06 08:16|| Front Page Top

#2 And all of this has to do with politics how? Did we forget how to feel proud to be an American?

It wasn't an easy feat to land that thing.
Posted by Greang Pelosi1026 2012-08-06 08:43||   2012-08-06 08:43|| Front Page Top

#3 If the government is going to piss away money, I like the idea of doing it on things like this. It employs people - intelligent, talented, and/or skilled people. It's interesting (to me). And things that push the limits of technological possibility generally turn out to have lots of collateral benefits, eventually.
Posted by Glenmore 2012-08-06 08:53||   2012-08-06 08:53|| Front Page Top

#4 panem et caelum circenses.
Posted by Bright Pebbles 2012-08-06 09:13||   2012-08-06 09:13|| Front Page Top

#5 "Break and Circuses" .....exactly BP.

The "feel good", however laudatory, somehow fails to put beans on the table.
Posted by Besoeker 2012-08-06 09:22||   2012-08-06 09:22|| Front Page Top

#6 (should of course read "Bread and circuses"...apologies)
Posted by Besoeker 2012-08-06 09:36||   2012-08-06 09:36|| Front Page Top

#7 Let them eat beans.
Posted by AlmostAnonymous5839 2012-08-06 09:44||   2012-08-06 09:44|| Front Page Top

#8 Life ain't easy, don't expect the government to put beans on your table.
Posted by Spogum Henbane7455 2012-08-06 09:46||   2012-08-06 09:46|| Front Page Top

#9 panem et caelum circenses. = bread and sky circus.
Posted by Bright Pebbles 2012-08-06 09:50||   2012-08-06 09:50|| Front Page Top

#10 Beans I know, Latin... not so much. :-P
Posted by Besoeker 2012-08-06 09:56||   2012-08-06 09:56|| Front Page Top

#11 Curiosity required substantial advances in robotic autonomy and its payloads ditto for sensor fusion and processing.

Those advances will move into a wide variety of industries over the next few years.
Posted by lotp 2012-08-06 10:02||   2012-08-06 10:02|| Front Page Top

#12 A historical reason to support programs like Curiousity - they are a good place to develop and 'store' during times of political pacifism the scientists and engineers you will need desperately in the event of war.
Posted by Glenmore 2012-08-06 10:03||   2012-08-06 10:03|| Front Page Top

#13 Here is an example of the .... "curiosity" which concerns me.
Posted by Besoeker 2012-08-06 10:04||   2012-08-06 10:04|| Front Page Top

#14 lotp makes specific my generic initial comment. And I am confident the future jobs from Curiousity (and curiousity) will dwarf those from expenditures on why chimps throw poo or cowboy poetry festivals, etc.
Posted by Glenmore 2012-08-06 10:06||   2012-08-06 10:06|| Front Page Top

#15 Well, when ranked against "poo throwing chimps" .... a sensitive topic here on the Burg, I'd have to agree. More study needed regarding cowboy poetry however.
Posted by Besoeker 2012-08-06 10:10||   2012-08-06 10:10|| Front Page Top

#16 #1 And all of this helps my neighbor find a new job how ?
Posted by Besoeker


Almost everything you are using nowdays is a product of the space agency. By law, inventions done by NASA are open for private use. So many of them are in your everyday goods and services it is boggling.

NASA is actually doing a great job at this and this is exactly what they were made to do. The benefit of all their work can be privatized and capitalized. And THAT will help your neighbor find a job and put beans on your table.

This is one of the few things that isn't a waste of money. It is an investment in the future.
Posted by DarthVader 2012-08-06 12:33||   2012-08-06 12:33|| Front Page Top

#17 The space program was worth it just for nonstick frying pans. All the rest is gravy. ;-)
Posted by trailing wife 2012-08-06 13:04||   2012-08-06 13:04|| Front Page Top

#18 And all of this helps my neighbor find a new job how ?

How many people the program employs?
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2012-08-06 13:43||   2012-08-06 13:43|| Front Page Top

#19 and don't forget that delicious TANG
Posted by Frank G 2012-08-06 13:43||   2012-08-06 13:43|| Front Page Top

#20 Mission Cost Per US citizen = $7
Investment for Future of Mankind = Priceless
Posted by Large Darling of the Antelope3345 2012-08-06 13:46||   2012-08-06 13:46|| Front Page Top

#21 NASA is a prime candidate for privatization and crowdfunding.
Posted by Nimble Spemble 2012-08-06 13:49||   2012-08-06 13:49|| Front Page Top

#22 Yeah, and "a budget-busting $2.5 billion"? (see previous article) $2.5 billion? Compare that to all the money Bummer has squandered on bogus stimuli and "loans" to Solyndra type cronies who never seem to make repayments. Makes $2.5 billion sound downright paltry.
Posted by Abu Uluque 2012-08-06 15:08||   2012-08-06 15:08|| Front Page Top

#23 My Tax-Dollars went into space and all I got was this lousy frying pan.
Posted by Bright Pebbles 2012-08-06 17:38||   2012-08-06 17:38|| Front Page Top

#24 Fried foods are bad for you BP, FLOTUS sez so. Alright, exploring space does have other dividends, I'll grant you that. I would only suggest we take care of life right here during these trying times and worry about life somewhere beyond the moon when we can better afford it.
Posted by Besoeker 2012-08-06 17:44||   2012-08-06 17:44|| Front Page Top

#25 Besoeker, does your neighbor have a degree in aerospace or rocket-science? If so, then programs like this are a great way to put food on his table.

Furthermore, this program will return more value to you than government dollars spent on unemployment or bankrupt loans to political cronies.

Would I prefer that some billionaire spent the money to build and deliver the rover to Mars and then charged a pay per view fee to watch the show last night. Yes. But, then again would I trust some guy like George Soros with 11 pounds of plutonium? Probably not.
Posted by rammer 2012-08-06 18:23||   2012-08-06 18:23|| Front Page Top

#26 Remember this perspective - in 1969 we had half a million troops in a land war in Asia, were smack in the middle of the biggest infrastructure program in a long time (the Interstate highway system) AND we put a man on the moon.

Now we can't do any of those things, because of the never-ending war on poverty, which has made zero progress since 1969 -15% then, 15% now. How many trillions went into that no-win "war"?

I'd pay more taxes to send folks to Mars.
Posted by Bobby 2012-08-06 18:32||   2012-08-06 18:32|| Front Page Top

#27 We could eliminate poverty by sending the poor to Mars! It's pretty much what Europe did a 1-3 centuries ago.
Posted by Glenmore 2012-08-06 19:20||   2012-08-06 19:20|| Front Page Top

#28 Excellent! I've always enjoyed your perspectives Glenmore.
Posted by Besoeker 2012-08-06 19:46||   2012-08-06 19:46|| Front Page Top

#29 #19 Awwwww, I was gonna say did they bring the Tang?

IIRC a NASA Pert-Offcial said we could possibly see a Manned Spaceflight to Mars widin 10 years [2022].

Iiff our desired future OWG = Space Govt-Order = Federation-Starfleet Command ... Govts-Perts can get their act together + come up wid a positive common, World-accepted consensus on the Sun + available Resources for Deep Space, + also the US' international partners' Space Vehicles don't blow up in flight or on the launchpad, we're a go for Jupiter + outer Planets.
Posted by JosephMendiola 2012-08-06 20:29||   2012-08-06 20:29|| Front Page Top

#30 We could eliminate poverty by sending the poor to Mars!

ROTFLMAO! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Thanks. I needed that.
Posted by RandomJD 2012-08-06 20:44||   2012-08-06 20:44|| Front Page Top

#31 "We could eliminate poverty by sending the poor to Mars!"

To hell with that - send Bambi and his fellow travelers. One-way ticket only, please.
Posted by Barbara 2012-08-06 20:50||   2012-08-06 20:50|| Front Page Top

#32 To hell with that - send Bambi and his fellow travelers. One-way ticket only, please.
What the heck do you have against the Martians to inflict Bambi on them?
Posted by CrazyFool 2012-08-06 22:22||   2012-08-06 22:22|| Front Page Top

23:38 Zhang Fei
23:13 JosephMendiola
22:57 swksvolFF
22:43 JosephMendiola
22:38 CrazyFool
22:30 newc
22:22 CrazyFool
22:12 newc
22:07 newc
21:23 Redneck Jim
21:21 Dale
21:12 Redneck Jim
21:08 Barbara
21:06 Barbara
20:50 Barbara
20:44 RandomJD
20:39 JosephMendiola
20:33 Dale
20:30 Rob Crawford
20:29 JosephMendiola
20:28 Dale
20:17 JosephMendiola
20:12 European Conservative
19:49 Besoeker









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