Mars Rover Landing Stream

[Neu Leonstein]

What's with the flag waving? American ingenuity?

Can't we just call this a human endeavour? These guys are supposed to be scientists..

[Melas]

What's with the flag waving? American ingenuity?

Can't we just call this a human endeavour? These guys are supposed to be scientists..

and they arent all americans,anyone noticed the asian?

[Neu Leonstein]

and they arent all americans,anyone noticed the asian?

Didn't see his passport, so I'm gonna assume he's American.

[Noobubersland]

Show me evidence that NASA is a major factor in the national debt. Money doesn't go nowhere. The money goes on buying things for their projects and hiring employees. Silicon Valley loves NASA for this reason.

It's well-known NASA is running a deficit that grows, look it up yourself. Also, it doesn't have to take up a major portion of debt, that doesn't matter. What matters is that it's an ultimately unsustainable venture, and space travel could be better handled be the private sector.
Yeah, and those things that they buy shoot up demand and increase consumer prices higher than they would have been had they been left alone making harder for poorer people to afford things.

Poor people are buying fucking plate that can withstand going through an atmosphere? Bullshit, and if we leave it to a bunch of money grubbing fucks then they won't do anything, it's not like we know of any mineral wealth on the moon

[Dibjuur]

Show me evidence that NASA is a major factor in the national debt. Money doesn't go nowhere. The money goes on buying things for their projects and hiring employees. Silicon Valley loves NASA for this reason.

It's well-known NASA is running a deficit that grows, look it up yourself. Also, it doesn't have to take up a major portion of debt, that doesn't matter. What matters is that it's an ultimately unsustainable venture, and space travel could be better handled be the private sector.
Yeah, and those things that they buy shoot up demand and increase consumer prices higher than they would have been had they been left alone making harder for poorer people to afford things.

Relevant.

[NMaa949]

It's well-known NASA is running a deficit that grows, look it up yourself. Also, it doesn't have to take up a major portion of debt, that doesn't matter. What matters is that it's an ultimately unsustainable venture, and space travel could be better handled be the private sector.

We aren't putting space in the hands of the private sector. Space belongs to humanity.

[Avenio]

Abolishing NASA would lower taxes allowing us to purchase things that we actually need.

NASA's total budget comprises 0.58% of the total federal budget, at around 18 billion dollars. Abolishing NASA and diverting its funds to tax cuts would mean practically nothing to the average American, let alone the economy. Meanwhile, the licensing and sale of NASA-developed technologies adds up to 21 billion dollars alone, paying for NASA's budget entirely. It actually makes more for the federal government than it spends.

[Garboshia]

I have never been so happy to see a black and white picture of a patch of dirt from another planet... WOOHOO!

[Melas]

Abolishing NASA would lower taxes allowing us to purchase things that we actually need.

NASA's total budget comprises 0.58% of the total federal budget, at around 18 billion dollars. Abolishing NASA and diverting its funds to tax cuts would mean practically nothing to the average American, let alone the economy. Meanwhile, the licensing and sale of NASA-developed technologies adds up to 21 billion dollars alone, paying for NASA's budget entirely. It actually makes more for the federal government than it spends.

wait what? I am all about NASA and watched the stream live but how does NASA have an income?

[Melas]

I have never been so happy to see a black and white picture of a patch of dirt from another planet... WOOHOO!

Wait for 48 hours till we have HD pictures

[Cameroi]

somebody tell that briefing (i'm watching in the other window) a little more science and tourism and a little less nationalism if you pleas.

[Bralia]

. . . one of the guys was wearing a jacket with American colors bedazzled all across it. Just lovely. >.>

[Genivaria]

Going to bed now. Night night.

[Melas]

Cant we just make NASA global? More funds,more people,more brains,more succes

[Meowfoundland]

Wooooo! Go NASA!

[Libraria and Ausitoria]

Very good news. Let's see what they find.

[Bralia]

Cant we just make NASA global? More funds,more people,more brains,more succes

I'm all for that.

And I think I'm going to leave for the night, too. Glad to share this night with you guys!

[Avenio]

wait what? I am all about NASA and watched the stream live but how does NASA have an income?

NASA holds patents and copyrights on a lot of the technology it develops using its federal budget, which it licenses out to private aerospace interests (like SpaceX, for example) for use, bringing in funds through licensing fees. Not to mention the amount of consultation they do for other countries and private interests, of course. NASA brings in an enormously disproportionate amount of money to the economy when its budget is considered;

WASHINGTON - NASA Administrator Michael Griffin kicked off a lecture series honoring the agency's 50th anniversary with an address Monday describing the critical role that space exploration plays in the global economy.

The "space economy" was estimated at about $180 billion in 2005, according to a report by the Space Foundation released in 2006. More than 60 percent of space-related economic activity came from commercial goods and services.

"NASA opens new frontiers and creates new opportunities, and because of that [NASA] is a critical driver of innovation," Griffin said. "We don't just create new jobs, we create entirely new markets and possibilities for economic growth that didn't previously exist. This is the emerging space economy, an economy that is transforming our lives here on Earth in ways that are not yet fully understood or appreciated. It is not an economy in space -- not yet. But space activities create products and markets that provide benefits right here on Earth, benefits that have arisen from our efforts to explore, understand, and utilize this new medium."

Since NASA's birth almost a half-century ago, military and political competition in space largely has faded away. The focus of space exploration today is in the economic arena. Rising living standards and technological advancement around the world mean greater competition from places that were never competitors before.

"If technological innovation drives competitiveness and growth, what drives innovation?" Griffin said. "There are many factors, but the exploration and exploitation of the space frontier is one of them. The money we spend -- half a cent of the federal budget dollar -- and the impact of what we do with it, doesn't happen 'out there.' It happens here, and the result has been the space economy. So if America is to remain a leader in the face of burgeoning global competition, we must continue to innovate, and we must continue to innovate in space."

NASA is uniquely positioned to drive the space economy with technological innovation. Griffin cited a number of examples where the space economy yields tangible benefits for people here on Earth.

"We see the transformative effects of the space economy all around us through numerous technologies and life-saving capabilities," Griffin said. "We see the space economy in the lives saved when advanced breast cancer screening catches tumors in time for treatment, or when a heart defibrillator restores the proper rhythm of a patient's heart. We see it when GPS, the Global Positioning System developed by the Air Force for military applications, helps guide a traveler to his or her destination. We see it when weather satellites warn us of coming hurricanes, or when satellites provide information critical to understanding our environment and the effects of climate change. We see it when we use an ATM or pay for gas at the pump with an immediate electronic response via satellite. Technologies developed for exploring space are being used to increase crop yields and to search for good fishing regions at sea."

Griffin's lecture followed a luncheon Monday at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington. It was the first in a series that will honor NASA's 50th birthday. The space agency began operations on Oct. 1, 1958. U.S. Rep. Alan B. Mollohan of West Virginia introduced Griffin.

Future lectures in the series will feature prominent speakers to discuss the benefits that space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research provide in addressing global issues such as the economy, education, health, science and the environment. Lockheed Martin Corporation of Bethesda, Md., is co-sponsoring the two-year lecture series.

For the complete text of Griffin's speech, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/189537main_mg_s ... 070917.pdf

Since 1958 NASA has invested approximately $3.7 billion in life sciences R&D in the support of the successful human space flight program. There are numerous studies documenting the spin-off technologies that can be traced to NASA research and development activities. Most of these studies describe the technologies and their uses; however only a few measure the economic impact of the spin-offs and most of these are benefit/cost studies that tend to overstate benefits or underestimate costs. This study takes a different approach, measuring only economic impacts to the companies that developed successful spin-off products from NASA life sciences investments. A personal interview was conducted with each company and the benefits are conservatively estimated as the value-added by the NASA technology to the company's output and the amount of additional private R&D stimulated by the NASA R&D.

This pilot study of fifteen companies, using a very conservative measurement technique, found a large return to companies that have successfully commercialized NASA life sciences spin-off products. Value-added benefits totaled over $1.5 billion and a NASA R&D total investment in these 15 technologies of $64 million was found to stimulate an additional $200 million in private R&D.

The study also found that the largest benefits were from products developed and marketed by large companies, primarily because these companies had the financial and marketing resources to work on a scale unavailable to smaller companies. Many of the small companies reported very profitable product-lines as well as documented evidence of benefits extending to the commercial users of their products. However, the smaller companies often lacked either the ability or the desire to expand into much larger scale production.

NASA and other government technology transfer programs may be overlooking an opportunity to enlarge the economic benefits from their spin-off technologies. When a federal R&D grant or contract ends, the formal relationship between the agency and the company also usually ends. However, the companies continue to use the prior connection to NASA for advertising and for developing new business partners. One recommendation of this study is for NASA to be more proactive with “alumni” companies and to help open additional financial and marketing doors for these companies.

[Melas]

wait what? I am all about NASA and watched the stream live but how does NASA have an income?

NASA holds patents and copyrights on a lot of the technology it develops using its federal budget, which it licenses out to private aerospace interests (like SpaceX, for example) for use, bringing in funds through licensing fees. Not to mention the amount of consultation they do for other countries and private interests, of course. NASA brings in an enormously disproportionate amount of money to the economy when its budget is considered;

WASHINGTON - NASA Administrator Michael Griffin kicked off a lecture series honoring the agency's 50th anniversary with an address Monday describing the critical role that space exploration plays in the global economy.

The "space economy" was estimated at about $180 billion in 2005, according to a report by the Space Foundation released in 2006. More than 60 percent of space-related economic activity came from commercial goods and services.

"NASA opens new frontiers and creates new opportunities, and because of that [NASA] is a critical driver of innovation," Griffin said. "We don't just create new jobs, we create entirely new markets and possibilities for economic growth that didn't previously exist. This is the emerging space economy, an economy that is transforming our lives here on Earth in ways that are not yet fully understood or appreciated. It is not an economy in space -- not yet. But space activities create products and markets that provide benefits right here on Earth, benefits that have arisen from our efforts to explore, understand, and utilize this new medium."

Since NASA's birth almost a half-century ago, military and political competition in space largely has faded away. The focus of space exploration today is in the economic arena. Rising living standards and technological advancement around the world mean greater competition from places that were never competitors before.

"If technological innovation drives competitiveness and growth, what drives innovation?" Griffin said. "There are many factors, but the exploration and exploitation of the space frontier is one of them. The money we spend -- half a cent of the federal budget dollar -- and the impact of what we do with it, doesn't happen 'out there.' It happens here, and the result has been the space economy. So if America is to remain a leader in the face of burgeoning global competition, we must continue to innovate, and we must continue to innovate in space."

NASA is uniquely positioned to drive the space economy with technological innovation. Griffin cited a number of examples where the space economy yields tangible benefits for people here on Earth.

"We see the transformative effects of the space economy all around us through numerous technologies and life-saving capabilities," Griffin said. "We see the space economy in the lives saved when advanced breast cancer screening catches tumors in time for treatment, or when a heart defibrillator restores the proper rhythm of a patient's heart. We see it when GPS, the Global Positioning System developed by the Air Force for military applications, helps guide a traveler to his or her destination. We see it when weather satellites warn us of coming hurricanes, or when satellites provide information critical to understanding our environment and the effects of climate change. We see it when we use an ATM or pay for gas at the pump with an immediate electronic response via satellite. Technologies developed for exploring space are being used to increase crop yields and to search for good fishing regions at sea."

Griffin's lecture followed a luncheon Monday at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington. It was the first in a series that will honor NASA's 50th birthday. The space agency began operations on Oct. 1, 1958. U.S. Rep. Alan B. Mollohan of West Virginia introduced Griffin.

Future lectures in the series will feature prominent speakers to discuss the benefits that space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research provide in addressing global issues such as the economy, education, health, science and the environment. Lockheed Martin Corporation of Bethesda, Md., is co-sponsoring the two-year lecture series.

For the complete text of Griffin's speech, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/189537main_mg_s ... 070917.pdf

thanks a lot for the info

[Yandere Schoolgirls]

Poor people are buying fucking plate that can withstand going through an atmosphere? Bullshit, and if we leave it to a bunch of money grubbing fucks then they won't do anything, it's not like we know of any mineral wealth on the moon

No, but people are buying petroleum, electronics and food. All of which are wasted on the NASA project which has gone nowhere since it's mid-1900s glory days. We leave the technology industry to "money grabbing fucks" why not the space travel industry? Face it, NASA does nothing but further strengthen the military establishment, think about who actually gets to go into space: Mostly military servicemen. Average citizens will never get into space as long as NASA is at the head of the helm.

We aren't putting space in the hands of the private sector. Space belongs to humanity.

Rofl, I don't think you realize how massive space is. Also, if space isn't "in the hands of the private sector" it's in the hands of the government, no one will get into space except who they choose to go into space. Putting it in the private sector would eventually make space travel affordable and cheap enough so that one day even the indignant will be able to go into space.

Abolishing NASA would lower taxes allowing us to purchase things that we actually need.

NASA's total budget comprises 0.58% of the total federal budget, at around 18 billion dollars. Abolishing NASA and diverting its funds to tax cuts would mean practically nothing to the average American, let alone the economy. Meanwhile, the licensing and sale of NASA-developed technologies adds up to 21 billion dollars alone, paying for NASA's budget entirely. It actually makes more for the federal government than it spends.

Trust me, the freed up capital from abolishing NASA would help out the people, because it would be a major step in the right direction towards austerity reforms.

[Typhlochactas]

Show me evidence that NASA is a major factor in the national debt. Money doesn't go nowhere. The money goes on buying things for their projects and hiring employees. Silicon Valley loves NASA for this reason.

It's well known that NASA is running up a deficit that continuously grows, look it up yourself. Also, it doesn't have to take up a major portion of debt, that doesn't matter. What matters is that it's an ultimately unsustainable venture, and space travel could be better handled be the private sector.
Yeah, and those things that they buy shoot up demand and increase consumer prices higher than they would have been had they been left alone making harder for poorer people to afford things.

1: Sources please.

2: You talked about the debt like it did matter. Now it doesn't?

3: It's completely sustainable.

4: No.

5: Because poor people are interested in buying space technology?

[Melas]

Poor people are buying fucking plate that can withstand going through an atmosphere? Bullshit, and if we leave it to a bunch of money grubbing fucks then they won't do anything, it's not like we know of any mineral wealth on the moon

No, but people are buying petroleum, electronics and food. All of which are wasted on the NASA project which has gone nowhere since it's mid-1900s glory days. We leave the technology industry to "money grabbing fucks" why not the space travel industry? Face it, NASA does nothing but further strengthen the military establishment, think about who actually gets to go into space: Mostly military servicemen. Average citizens will never get into space as long as NASA is at the head of the helm.

We aren't putting space in the hands of the private sector. Space belongs to humanity.

Rofl, I don't think you realize how massive space is. Also, if space isn't "in the hands of the private sector" it's in the hands of the government, no one will get into space except who they choose to go into space. Putting it in the private sector would eventually make space travel affordable and cheap enough so that one day even the indignant will be able to go into space.

NASA's total budget comprises 0.58% of the total federal budget, at around 18 billion dollars. Abolishing NASA and diverting its funds to tax cuts would mean practically nothing to the average American, let alone the economy. Meanwhile, the licensing and sale of NASA-developed technologies adds up to 21 billion dollars alone, paying for NASA's budget entirely. It actually makes more for the federal government than it spends.

Trust me, the freed up capital from abolishing NASA would help out the people, because it would be a major step in the right direction towards austerity reforms.

Do you have any idea how much training and budget you need to send someone to space?

[Avenio]

Trust me, the freed up capital from abolishing NASA would help out the people, because it would be a major step in the right direction towards austerity reforms.

Again, abolishing NASA would lead to an infinitesimally small decrease in taxes and the federal budget, and would be a net detriment on the economy because of the billions it pours back into the aerospace industry.

Aerospace research is one of the things government does really well, because it has the budgetary heft to do the groundwork for the private sector, which is in a very high-risk situation when compared to other industries.

[Yandere Schoolgirls]

This is ridiculous, it's like being happy about a room sized computer being half the size of a room after 50 years of the government building computers. I don't want to live on this planet anymore, screw NASA and Mars. There is nothing on Mars, and after 50 years this is all that NASA has to show for billions of taxpayer dollars. A robot that takes pictures of rocks on a planet that is essentially barren wasteland and a desert. Any private company that progressed this little in 50 years would have been out of business by now and forgotten. Nasa has done nothing to further progression in our society in the past 50 years they've been established. Landing a robot on Mars has been a testament to their redundancy

Thanks NASA for 50 years of nothing.

[Typhlochactas]

This is ridiculous, it's like being happy about a room sized computer being half the size of a room after 50 years of the government building computers. I don't want to live on this planet anymore, screw NASA and Mars. There is nothing on Mars, and after 50 years this is all that NASA has to show for billions of taxpayer dollars. A robot that takes pictures of rocks on a planet that is essentially barren wasteland and a desert. Any private company that progressed this little in 50 years would have been out of business by now and forgotten. Nasa has done nothing to further progression in our society in the past 50 years they've been established. Landing a robot on Mars has been a testament to their redundancy

Thanks NASA for 50 years of nothing.

Knock yourself out.