After Seven Years, Mercury Finally Has Our Message

[Anton P. Nym]

Sounds like a waste of taxpayer money. The US needs to cut its funding of expensive science projects like this one. Why not put that new money towars getting our country out of the deficit or feeding some people?

Focus on solving our problems here on Earth before we go looking for more, shall we?

The entirety of the Apollo program cost, adjusted for inflation to 2007 dollars, $200 billion. Which sounds like a lot... except that it's less than what the US Air Force spent on the F-22 interceptor jet. I think the US got a lot more return from Apollo than from the F-22.

Speaking of which, "expensive science projects like this one" helped the Internet revolutionise telecommunications so that you don't have to get your porn in plain brown wrappers, allowing 4-6 weeks for delivery *cough* people around the world can easily collaborate on the next big developments that will revolutionise how we live and work. Science is like that... you never know precisely what exploration will bring, but sometimes it'll surprise you with a total game-changer.

-- Steve

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Sweet!

Now all we need to do is find some Prothean technology and we're all set.

You fool! Do you want us to become Reaper juice!?

Do you? The reapers would come ANYWAY. They eliminate all organic life in the galaxy, not just the citadel races! If we don't get out into the galaxy, we'll never get Shepard out there in time to stop them!

 

[dragontiers]

Naawww, I was hoping for something related to Queen.
Don't crash me noooowwww! I'm having such a good time, I'm circling a baallll....


Anyway, let's see what they find out about Mercury from this. Hopefully it'll be a bit more enlightening that 'it's definately round,'

Point for the Queen reference, but then Point Loss for not making an obvious Freddy Mercury joke.

OT: Good, we can finally start creating a network of satellites throughout our solar system that can give us more detailed information about the galaxy around us. The more information we have on the solar system, the better our context for what we already know about Earth as well. Hopefully they will send up more to other such planets now that they've had a success.

 

[Ulixes Dimon]

Very cool, I was not aware we sent a satellite to Mercury.

Sounds like a waste of taxpayer money. The US needs to cut its funding of expensive science projects like this one. Why not put that new money towars getting our country out of the deficit or feeding some people?

Focus on solving our problems here on Earth before we go looking for more, shall we?

You may have missed the part where it was launched about 7 years ago in 2004. We were doing pretty okay in 2004, from what I remember, and could afford "science projects."

Im pretty sure in 2004 we were involved in at least one war in the Middle East. The US of A also owed various companies and other countries almost ten trillion dollars, and that was seven years ago. George Bush also allocated 14 billion dollars to NASA in one year alone to fund projects like this. Thats about a dozen too many billions being spent on space exploration and taking pictures of planets.

I'm sorry did you say we should cut government spending on scientific research? Lets go back in time and make sure they don't invent the internet too and instead use the money for a soup line.

 

[BoogieManFL]

Sounds like a waste of taxpayer money. The US needs to cut its funding of expensive science projects like this one. Why not put that new money towars getting our country out of the deficit or feeding some people?

Focus on solving our problems here on Earth before we go looking for more, shall we?

Why is it that so many people react to news of a scientific discovery or breakthrough by assuming out of hand that it's not going to do anyone any good?

Because they are small minded people without any vision for the future.

 

[Jackel86]

Messenger, an acronym for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging...

Hmmm, NASA has its way with acronyms, don't they?

Sounds like a waste of taxpayer money. The US needs to cut its funding of expensive science projects like this one. Why not put that new money towars getting our country out of the deficit or feeding some people?

Focus on solving our problems here on Earth before we go looking for more, shall we?

Wanna cut on spendings? Tell your military to cut down on the F-35. $323 billion spent so far (and still counting) on a project to procure an aircraft that no one needs.

I might be wrong, but didn't they? I could have sworn I read that, despite Boehner's constant fighting for the stupid thing, congress decided to pull the plug on the project.

Also, to be fair, when you say to "tell [our] military to cut down", it's not really the military's call. They don't approve the budgets. No matter what they want, it's our shitty executive branch (and mostly the Republicans in it) that just can't say no.

 

[RA92]

Wanna cut on spendings? Tell your military to cut down on the F-35. $323 billion spent so far (and still counting) on a project to procure an aircraft that no one needs.

I might be wrong, but didn't they? I could have sworn I read that, despite Boehner's constant fighting for the stupid thing, congress decided to pull the plug on the project.

Also, to be fair, when you say to "tell [our] military to cut down", it's not really the military's call. They don't approve the budgets. No matter what they want, it's our shitty executive branch (and mostly the Republicans in it) that just can't say no.

Well, as far as I know, the F-35B variant was put on hold back in January due to development issues. But they aren't going to give up on it completely since so many countries have been involved in the JSF project for more than a decade. I guess this is just going to turn into another F-111 fiasco...

As for your comment on this being not the military's call... I guess I agree to an extent, since I remember hearing Major Richard Koch, a chief of USAF Air Combat Command, saying, "I wake up in a cold sweat at the thought of the F-35 going in with only two air-dominance weapons." Seriously, for a $156 million aircraft, that's pitiful payload. You guys should've stuck with the unmatched F-22.

As for my country, Russian hardware has served us very well so far.

 

[Finiker]

Still, yet another impressive achievement for the human race. I can't wait to see what we come up with next, here's hoping for giant robots.

I know I'm in young folk's territory here but I was born in 1934 on a west Tennessee dirt farm. My grandparents didn't get indoor plumbing or electricity until 1950. People with heart disease or cancer suffered and died. There were no stents, bypasses, transplants, effective drugs etc. and the only thing they could do for cancer was surgery and once they did that in most cases the tumor metasticized and spread into other organs. Now I see people who would have died from all manner of ailment 50-60 years ago receive effective treatment and live into their eighties and sometimes nineties. The human race is amazing.

I have eight grandchildren and one great grandchild and I can only imagine what the future holds for them.

 

[Finiker]

Sounds like a waste of taxpayer money. The US needs to cut its funding of expensive science projects like this one. Why not put that new money towars getting our country out of the deficit or feeding some people?

Focus on solving our problems here on Earth before we go looking for more, shall we?

Because of this, we aren't going to Mars, or even back to the moon anymore. NASA has only one space mission left before we shut down and retire all of the shuttles/rockets, and then we'll have to bum rides off of the Russians and other countries.

While the reasoning behind it is understandable, its still really disappointing.

I guess the fact that one Australian dollar is now buying more than one US dollar isn't really helping huh?

In 1979 I vacationed in Canada. On the way north I paid $4.00 a gallon for gas and found a Canadian dollar worth a few cents more than American. Don't give up on us just yet.