The Briefing Room
General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Topic started by: flowers on December 18, 2013, 05:59:35 pm
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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/dec/18/nasa-pushing-hard-get-back-space-game/
NASA is fighting hard to get back in the space game, launching a massive drive to develop new technology that will remind politicians America should take the lead in galaxy exploration — not China and not Iran.
The agency is showcasing its Robonaut program, a technological advance that is aimed at helping scientists on the space station, Design News reported. And NASA officials are trying to develop a 3D printer that’s capable of constructing items and facilities on the moon and on other planets, the media outlet reported.
In a recent tour for select members of the media, actual NASA program leaders — rather than public relations spokesmen — showcased new equipment that could launch the agency back into the human space travel game within three years, Design News reported. And that space travel could include trips to Mars, the program leaders claimed.
Among the other new developments: A dune-buggy vehicle that holds potential to be “the perfect car for a new city” in space, Design News reported. And numerous notable technological devices — less clumsy, less bulky than past items — that were aimed at improving and supporting maneuverability on the moon and other planets.
Chief among the messages that NASA officials wanted to send: All these technological wonders could be ready for take-off within three years of receiving the thumbs-up from politicians and Capitol Hill funders, Design News said.
The agency suggested it was making the push because of new advancements made by China and Iran. The Chinese just landed a rover on the moon, while the Iranians claimed to have sent a monkey — for the second time — into space.
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If someone would have told you in 1985 that by 2013 we would have to rely on Russians to get us into space, you would have called them a damn liar.
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Never should have canceled Ares/Constellation.
If Obama hadn't killed it, then Ares I would be almost ready to transport our people into space and Ares V would be well on the way to its first flight.
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The new mission of NASA is "mulsim outreach", which is a coded way of saying that Obama gave the world every single thing NASA ever was. You know, it's only 'fair'.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWn1fAS8ZF0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWn1fAS8ZF0)
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Now that Obastard & Co. have blown the national debt out of all proportion, where will the money come from?
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NASA does not have the funds to carry large programs like manned lunar landings. If they want to go back to the Moon, it must be an international effort to spread the costs. Start with the Space Station as a starting point and work your way back to lunar landings. Its cheaper to build ships in orbit than on Earth.They should stick to unmanned robots which they are having a lot of success with. If they want an interstellar flight, they will have to wait until theoretical physics catches up.
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Now that Obastard & Co. have blown the national debt out of all proportion, where will the money come from?
NASA could have single handedly solved much of the USA's budget woes if they'd been allowed to patent their inventions. Can you imagine the licensing royalties on something like velcro? Or the various thermoplastics? Or touch screens?
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NASA could have single handedly solved much of the USA's budget woes if they'd been allowed to patent their inventions. Can you imagine the licensing royalties on something like velcro? Or the various thermoplastics? Or touch screens?
Interesting, but then you would get charges of cronyism and conflicts of interest if any of these patents were licensed on an exclusive basis. However, if they were licensed on a non-exclusive basis that might have solved those problems.
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NASA could have single handedly solved much of the USA's budget woes if they'd been allowed to patent their inventions. Can you imagine the licensing royalties on something like velcro? Or the various thermoplastics? Or touch screens?
That was the benefits of the Apollo mission and our space program. That we were able to use many of the innovations that it produced into public use. The Soviets never did that.
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NASA could have single handedly solved much of the USA's budget woes if they'd been allowed to patent their inventions. Can you imagine the licensing royalties on something like velcro? Or the various thermoplastics? Or touch screens?
As a meteorologist who is undercut every day by the National Weather Service's free public forecasts, I say bravo. The U.S. is one of the only countries in the world that puts all of its work indiscriminately in the public domain.
It'd be one thing if they continued to put SOME content into PD but the no-restrictions-on-ANYTHING approach the government uses is ridiculous.
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NASA could have single handedly solved much of the USA's budget woes if they'd been allowed to patent their inventions. Can you imagine the licensing royalties on something like velcro? Or the various thermoplastics? Or touch screens?
I agree. There are still technological marvels from NASA and the military that has not been released to the public.