Nasa is a waste of funds!

[DanS]

The shuttle's military role has been scaled back, but they do play an important part in launching and repairing intelligence satellites.

Nope, the shuttle's military role has been killed. They haven't done a military satellite since 1991.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Ming
HEY... the warnings were meant for EVERYBODY.

And this is why I walked away and went to the store and watched tv and movies for the rest of the night. Cuz I knew I couldn't continue this conversation without getting myself banned but good.

[chequita guevara]

If I was offered a choice to live on Mars, knowing I'd never be able to come back to Earth . . . I'd think long and hard about it, but I think'd take it. Not that they'd be sending asthmatics to Mars any time soon.

[Static Universe]

Originally posted by DanS
The shuttle's military role has been scaled back, but they do play an important part in launching and repairing intelligence satellites.

Nope, the shuttle's military role has been killed. They haven't done a military satellite since 1991.

Only because they don't call them "military" missions anymore. These satellites are considered civilian assets which also serve can military function, like the shuttle itself.

Some quotes from Maxwell Air Force Base's website:

The US military uses its own share of civilian satellite systems (Gray Space satellites) in both peaceful and hostile environments. With continued fiscal constraints and the increased sophistication of these systems, the US military is becoming more and more dependent on Gray Space assets.

Landsat is the US government’s civilian remote sensing satellite system, providing multispectral imaging with a resolution of 30 meters. This data can show deforestation, expanding deserts and other phenomena. The military uses these images for mapping and planning tactical operations.

Also of interest:

Military Space Role Already Growing Under Bush

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/0001/06titanoilleak/

Military influence to grow at NASA

http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2002/021009-nasa1.htm

[Imran Siddiqui]

I very much doubt that we will get to Mars this centuary and I wouldn't expect colonisation for a few hundred years

There is that thinking in the short term again.

[The Mad Monk]

Why not? A pollutant and pollen-free controlled atmosphere environment sounds like the best place for us.

[intrigue]

The manned missions to Mars are certainly intriguing... and I love the idea.
But as far as potential benefit to the world as whole, I think it has to be the idea of space mining. Mining the moon for materials - and then Mars. And eventually the asteroid belt.
This is why the arguement that "what has NASA done for us lately" or anything of the like, goes no where with me.
I see just some of the possibilities that can come from just getting to other places in our solar system (let alone to other star systems)... and the small mundayne (sp?) steps NASA is pioneering now is not only exciting, but crucial.

How bout we turn this thread into predictions for benefits of NASA's programs and research - why and how it'll be used!

About statements earlier along the lines of why does NASA use old technology:
The simple guts of the reasoning is that, that old technology has a track-record. It is tested. Testing takes time - and in 15 years from now, they will finally be satisfied that technology of today is safe enough to spend billions on (knowing the risks). And the same arguement will be made about whatever new technologies we will have then. In one light its seems bad to use the old technology - but in another, the risks are too high to use the new technology (which inherently means it is not fully tested to satisfaction).
Now you say... phhhff - testing - well the shuttle still blew up didn't it? Well... accidents happen, and we can learn from them. I attribute the many successful missions in part to thorough testing.

And about the Columbia... we still have yet to see what that mission has to contribute to future missions (as they are not here yet)... And those contributions will be the legacy of those astronauts that gave their lives for it.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Why not? A pollutant and pollen-free controlled atmosphere environment sounds like the best place for us.

How do you think the massive G's from lift-off would affect us? Also, I expect that a Mars colony will be pretty cold. Think the South Pole scientific base, but without the ability to breathe outside.

[Willem]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
If I was offered a choice to live on Mars, knowing I'd never be able to come back to Earth . . . I'd think long and hard about it, but I think'd take it. Not that they'd be sending asthmatics to Mars any time soon.

To hell with Mars, I'd like to sign up for the first colony ship heading for Alpha Centauri! The universe could be our playground, if we just have the courage to try for it. But that will never happen if we start squabbling over relative value.

[The Mad Monk]

Details, details!

The massive G's are strictly short-term, and then become a low-G snooze cruise! I wouldn't worry too much about temperature once we get there -- unlike Antarctica, the base would probably have enough power -- solar and nuclear -- to be nice n' comfy.

[patrickjb53]

Originally posted by Docfeelgood
Billions of dollars spent and many lives lost for CELL PHONES?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?


sad

You claim to be a Nurse; here are only a few of the Medical advancements as a result of NASA research.

A walk in the park for Mikie Walker of Virginia Beach, Va., might as well be on the moon.

This 6-year-old boy has a genetic condition called porphyria, which makes his skin extremely sensitive to solar radiation. A few minutes' exposure to ordinary sunlight causes severe sunburn, blistering, painful nerve inflammation and abdominal pain.

But in April, NASA provided Mikie with a protective ultraviolet suit similar to those worn by astronauts who walked on the moon and in the hostile environment of space. Now Mikie can safely explore Earth, which had been just as hostile to him during the day.

Since the beginning of the space program, modern medicine has been a key beneficiary of its technological advances. NASA uses its technology transfers and stories like the one about Mikie to justify the investment by taxpayers and to show that it has practical value.

Since the instant orange breakfast drink Tang and ballpoint pens, the transfer of technology, particularly to the medical arena, has been NASA's public relations mainstay.

The space shuttle Discovery launch - which carried John Glenn into orbit again after 36 years - is focusing attention on NASA public relations perhaps like no other mission in its 40-year history.

Glenn's mission is being widely criticized as a public relations ploy and a payback for key votes he made as a Democratic senator. Nevertheless, it will produce new information about the effects of near-zero gravity on an aging body. The information will contribute to a better understanding of bone loss, muscle wasting and neurological degeneration.

Public relations or not, most space missions have contributed significant technology transfers that have touched the lives of millions of people worldwide. Mikie and two boys in England, who are allergic to sunlight and also require protective suits, will spend the rest of their lives wrapped in NASA technology. Every time a person sees a doctor or undergoes a medical test, some small aspect is likely to have come from the space program.

From the beginning, manned space flight has been generating medically oriented technologies. Glenn's 1962 orbit of the Earth required NASA to develop remote monitors for heart, blood pressure and oxygen levels. Today, these monitors make the emerging field of telemedicine possible. Telemedicine monitoring technologies tested in May on Mount Everest, for example, were based on these early devices.

With John Glenn about to make medical history, USA TODAY highlights some of the key technologies that arrived on Earth from outer space:

Astronauts' spacesuits and the UV suits developed for children with sun-sensitive conditions on Earth require cooling systems for the head and body. Robert Dotts, assistant director of Technology Transfer and Commercialization at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, says the latest version consists of a vest made of materials similar to those used in cold packs. Original suits employed a battery-powered cooling system of tubes that carried water.

The outer UV reflective garment is made of a prototype material that is being developed for future astronaut spacesuits.

It is a two-layer suit that blocks 99.9 percent of UV rays.

The outer layer consists of a jacket, pants, gloves, helmet and visor. The inner layer consists of the new passive-cooling vest.

The vest is manufactured by MicroClimate Systems Inc. of Sanford, Minn. The UV outer garment is made by Solar Protective Factory of Carmichael, Calif.

The cool suits are being used by children with hyphidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (HED) (missing sweat glands), multiple sclerosis, spina bifida, cerebral palsy and numerous genetic disorders that affect the skin.

Sarah Moody of Hampton, Va., provides NASA's cool suits to children through her HED Foundation.

A pump developed for the Mars Viking lander provided the design for the Programmable Implantable Medication System, which is placed in the abdomen to deliver a continuous supply of insulin for people with Type I diabetes.

NASA satellite technology provided the engineering foundation for miniaturization of the device's features.

It has a refillable reservoir, the pump, a tube that leads to the intestines, a microcomputer and a battery. It is encased in a titanium shell that is 3 inches in diameter and three-quarters of an inch thick.

The patient can program the device by holding a radio transmitter above the abdomen and selecting one of 10 codes. The codes can change the rate of insulin flow, provide an extra dose, allow physicians access to data from the pump's stored memory and generate computer data on pump performance.

The external MiniMed 504 insulin infuser pump is the size of a credit card and contains a computer, battery and insulin syringe attached to a thin catheter that is 30 inches long. The tip of the catheter holds a needle that is placed under the skin and delivers insulin based on preprogrammed rates.

Studying distant galaxies through special devices that visualize the universe with X-ray vision led to the development of the Low Intensity X-ray Imaging Scope.

The portable device is being used to make X-rays for injured players on a football field or at the scene of an accident. One of these devices, FluoroScan by HealthMate Inc., weighs only 20 pounds and occupies only 2 square feet. It can operate on batteries.

About 500 hospitals have replaced their standard high-intensity X-ray machines with the FluoroScan. The low radiation levels make the device particularly useful for real-time imaging during surgery.

A third-generation device is used commonly for airport and building security and quality control industrial inspections.

Heart-imaging devices, excimer lasers, microbe detectors, programmable pacemakers and diagnostics for cataracts are just a few more of the advances for which NASA claims responsibility. It also has made inroads into the study of osteoporosis, drug development and balance disorders.

Public relations? Sure. But people like Mikie aren't complaining.

[Jack_www]

very good post! NASA is not a waste of money.

[Static Universe]

patrickjb53:

Very Nice.