NASA plans to retire the ISS by 2031 by crashing it into the Pacific Ocean
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Re: NASA plans to retire the ISS by 2031 by crashing it into the Pacific Ocean
#2But what happens if the Chinese recover pieces of it from the ocean and figure out how to waste trillions of dollars to no good effect too?
/sarcasm
Wouldn't we have been much better served using all that money to figure out how to manufacture more/better microchips? The StarTrek fantasy will still be there in a century or two.
Re: NASA plans to retire the ISS by 2031 by crashing it into the Pacific Ocean
#3But what happens if the Chinese recover pieces of it from the ocean and figure out how to waste trillions of dollars to no good effect too? /sarcasm Wouldn't we have been much better served using all that money to figure out how to manufacture more/better microchips? The StarTrek fantasy will still be there in a century or two.
Ignoring your sarcasm and focusing on your second point :
One big example is SpaceX. I don’t think they’d be as successful as they are right now if they didn’t have some of that initial funding from NASA to help them bootstrap to where they are today.
This is one stellar example of how federal research funding dollars can generate positive societal benefits through the transfer to private industry.
Of course there are some companies that just siphon federal dollars without much to show in return, but for SpaceX they have really returned multiples on those initial “investments”.
Re: NASA plans to retire the ISS by 2031 by crashing it into the Pacific Ocean
#4But what happens if the Chinese recover pieces of it from the ocean and figure out how to waste trillions of dollars to no good effect too? /sarcasm Wouldn't we have been much better served using all that money to figure out how to manufacture more/better microchips? The StarTrek fantasy will still be there in a century or two.
Ignoring your sarcasm and focusing on your second point : One big example is SpaceX. I don’t think they’d be as successful as they are right now if they didn’t have some of that initial funding from NASA to help them bootstrap to where they are today. This is one stellar example of how federal research funding dollars can generate positive societal benefits through the transfer to private industry. Of course there ar…
I think you just found a mission statement for NASA that congress can get behind: Welfare for Billionaires.
Re: NASA plans to retire the ISS by 2031 by crashing it into the Pacific Ocean
#5But what happens if the Chinese recover pieces of it from the ocean and figure out how to waste trillions of dollars to no good effect too? /sarcasm Wouldn't we have been much better served using all that money to figure out how to manufacture more/better microchips? The StarTrek fantasy will still be there in a century or two.
Ignoring your sarcasm and focusing on your second point : One big example is SpaceX. I don’t think they’d be as successful as they are right now if they didn’t have some of that initial funding from NASA to help them bootstrap to where they are today. This is one stellar example of how federal research funding dollars can generate positive societal benefits through the transfer to private industry. Of course there ar…
So we need the ISS so we can use taxpayer money to fund billionaires to develop rockets to launch to the ISS?
See here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_reasoning
Where would we be without SpaceX? Pretty much where we are now --- struggling to find enough chips to build cars and Raspberry PIs.
Re: NASA plans to retire the ISS by 2031 by crashing it into the Pacific Ocean
#6Crazy idea: are there enough space nerds who would pay for a small momento piece of ISS that it might be worthwhile to disassemble it in space and bring parts back to Earth?
Re: NASA plans to retire the ISS by 2031 by crashing it into the Pacific Ocean
#7Crazy idea: are there enough space nerds who would pay for a small momento piece of ISS that it might be worthwhile to disassemble it in space and bring parts back to Earth?
Even if you broke it into thousands of pieces and brought it back I think the cost would be astronomical. You've got to launch a craft up to take it apart and bring pieces back, potentially multiple times, compared to the cost of just blasting it into the water.
Re: NASA plans to retire the ISS by 2031 by crashing it into the Pacific Ocean
#8Crazy idea: are there enough space nerds who would pay for a small momento piece of ISS that it might be worthwhile to disassemble it in space and bring parts back to Earth?
No but a kickstarter to take a ship, and drag the ocean for the pieces would be cool.
Re: NASA plans to retire the ISS by 2031 by crashing it into the Pacific Ocean
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ignoring your sarcasm and focusing on your second point : One big example is SpaceX. I don’t think they’d be as successful as they are right now if they didn’t have some of that initial funding from NASA to help them bootstrap to where they are today. This is one stellar example of how federal research funding dollars can generate positive societal benefits through the transfer to private industry. Of course there ar…
So we need the ISS so we can use taxpayer money to fund billionaires to develop rockets to launch to the ISS? See here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_reasoning Where would we be without SpaceX? Pretty much where we are now --- struggling to find enough chips to build cars and Raspberry PIs.
It would be nice if we could do both.
Re: NASA plans to retire the ISS by 2031 by crashing it into the Pacific Ocean
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ignoring your sarcasm and focusing on your second point : One big example is SpaceX. I don’t think they’d be as successful as they are right now if they didn’t have some of that initial funding from NASA to help them bootstrap to where they are today. This is one stellar example of how federal research funding dollars can generate positive societal benefits through the transfer to private industry. Of course there ar…
So we need the ISS so we can use taxpayer money to fund billionaires to develop rockets to launch to the ISS? See here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_reasoning Where would we be without SpaceX? Pretty much where we are now --- struggling to find enough chips to build cars and Raspberry PIs.
While HN complains that we want cars without chips to begin with.