Pluto probe launched!

[Basic]

It's on its way! Check out a summary here:
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/0601_pluto_newhorizons_archive.html
Should arrive in about 10 years. I am really interested to see how this thing goes.

 

[Calberty]

yipee!

Space.com has some good 'space' forums that discuss various missions.

http://uplink.space.com/ubbthreads.php

 

[Curiosity]

Every time I see a launch or re-entry my heart just stops....

The magnitude of all this space exploration is so fascinating and frightening too.

Pluto eh? Do you suppose Disney has built.... naw.....

 

[jimmoyer]

Nine years.

Number Nine.

 

[missile]

I doubt that they'll find ben Laden there

 

[jimmoyer]

Pluto doesn't care.

Pluto is distant.

Dark.

Netherworld.

Beyond.

 

[Calberty]

I doubt that they'll find ben Laden there

What about WMDs? :roll:

jimmoyer: Never thought of that. Planet 9 in 9. They should use you to write slogans to stir up public interest.
The general public knowledge of space exploration, manned and unmanned, is somewhat lacking. I watched a man-on-the -street survey a couple years back and they purposely asked a false question that went something like:

"Should the Shuttle be kept in operation to serve the space station crew on Mars". Most of the walker-bys said 'yes'. 8O

 

[jimmoyer]

Well the best secrets even when outed by mistake
won't be believed.

Whew !!

Close one.

 

[Basic]

Re: RE: Pluto probe launched!

Pluto doesn't care.

Pluto is distant.

Dark.

Netherworld.

Beyond.

Ok I just have to ask:
What is with the poems all the time?

 

[Finder]

hmmmm interesting.... *already forgot what they sent the prop for as this is totally not interesting* hmmm are we not glade that millions were spent on a probe and not.... health care....

 

[Basic]

This is furthering our knowedge in the sciences and our understanding of the universe. This is far more important than some short-term health care issue IMO.
These experiments requrire large amounts of funding and are really quite necessary to learn. We are going to leave this rock eventually and to do so we need as good of an understanding of everything as we can possibly get. NASA is severely underfunded already and $100million is nothing to those in the US. That's $.3 per person! This is money much better spent.
If you are going to complain about anything, please do so about the US military budget.

 

[I think not]

Uhm Basic, NASA's budget last year (2005) was over $16 Billion, $100 million for NASA isn't enough for their food.

 

[Calberty]

I suppose everything can be compared to something else. Has anyone ever spent a dollar on an item they don't 'need' when others in the world don't have proper medicine or nutrition? Is it okay for the government to stop all education funding and put all that money into health? Of course not. Science investment isn't a bottomless pit without a return. It develps a science and technological infrastructure in a country which, in turn, underpins such activities as looking for a virus vaccine, building an efficient fuel-cell car, etc.

A more pressing issue isn't so much the amount of money that government invests in education, the sciences, research, etc. as much as are those dollars the most productive in building an intellectual infrastructure.

A major reason we won in WW2 wasn't that we had more planes and ships and tanks, etc. in 1939 but that we had the know-how and industrial infrastructure to develop and produce those items.

 

[Basic]

Uhm Basic, NASA's budget last year (2005) was over $16 Billion, $100 million for NASA isn't enough for their food.

Yes I am aware of this. Last I looked it was approximately $16.5b US. I know that sounds like alot... but when compared to the US military budget of over $400b it then appears to be quite reasonable.