I point blank said earlier that I didn't have all the answers.
Then understand that you can't have everything you want for free.
From an AOL news link:
(QUOTE)
(IRT the Cassini Saturn mission)
The orbital insertion came after two decades of work by scientists in the
United States and 17 nations. The $3.3 billion mission was funded by NASA, the
European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.
(UNQUOTE)
Which in English means the United States paid over $3B for this and Italy
got some press as being involved in space exploration. No doubt in exchange
for our continued use of Aviano.
The reality is quite different. All three agencies contributed money
and resources. The result is a very sophisticated probe that will
spend *years* studying the ringed planet.
Cudda used THAT $3B right here on Earth too...
Yep.
OR...Cudda built two new shuttles with spares.
When Challenger blew up, the quoted price I saw to replace the *just
the lost hardware* was $2 billion. In 1986 dollars.
Cassini/Huygens $3.3 billion is spread out over two decades. Comes to
less about $150 million a year.
OR...Cudda funded a LOT of lead-in research to a new lunar program, right
ehre "in the neighborhood".
Don't need research. Need development.
Chances are unless we stumble on to warp drive,
man will never get any closer to Saturn than those robots.
Not true at all.
Seems to me, Steve, that you're against unmanned probes like
Cassini/Huygens and the Mars rovers, but *for* much more expensive
manned missions - even though we stand to learn much more science from
the unmanned probes. And the technology developed for the unmanned
probes arguably has more application here on earth than that developed
for manned flight.
Threaded Mode
