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2005-10-25 Science & Technology

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Posted by Steve 2005-10-25 14:20|| || Front Page|| [4 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I've owned cars that didn't last this long.

Posted by Matt 2005-10-25 14:53|| 2005-10-25 14:53|| Front Page Top

#2 "...landed on opposite sides of the Red Planet..."

When they meet up, will they drive a golden spike into the spot?

Posted by SLO Jim 2005-10-25 15:03|| 2005-10-25 15:03|| Front Page Top

#3 the six-wheeled rover is descending to a basin where the scientific instruments it carries will examine an outcrop dubbed "home plate"

Stand on it! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeehiiiiiiiiiii!

Posted by Shipman 2005-10-25 18:13|| 2005-10-25 18:13|| Front Page Top

#4 I fear that only private enterprise will overcome the boffins' penchant of reinventing the wheel. Right now, NASA has big plans to re-do these landers, just "bigger". Why?

If you are going to do something like that, then why not go for a vehicle the size of a Hummer? Work off the assumption that you have to get a really large object there, one loaded with gear and capable of operating for years. Heck, you might even make it big enough to have a nuclear reactor on board. Just having a mobile energy supply on the planet would be priceless.

At some point, to learn new things, you have to use technologies you already know, to do things you already understand, and tedious work you wish you didn't have to do.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-10-25 18:49|| 2005-10-25 18:49|| Front Page Top

#5 From the outside, and I once knew some excellent NASA software engineers well - they were a client augmenting in-house computing power with timesharing resources, as well as working for one of their best engineers - who had been forcibly retired for the "sin" of being a middle-aged white man, I'd say that NASA has flushed its system clean of that most elusive creature and a priori resource: the creative hard-headed maverick. No old crusty "make it happen" engineers, only sterilized well-leashed brainstorming groups and MBA-type yes men.

Arguably the most successful technology fermentation tank is the Skunkworks. Perhaps adopting Kelly Johnson's Rules would be a start.

NASA's problems certainly appear to be systemic.

Posted by .com 2005-10-25 19:07|| 2005-10-25 19:07|| Front Page Top

#6 Mars rover begins descent from summit

Say, did it have any stone tablets with it?

Posted by Almost Anonymous2520">Almost Anonymous2520 2005-10-25 21:53|| 2005-10-25 21:53|| Front Page Top

#7 .com---Rule 6 seems to be largely ignored in today's government contracts:

Rule No. 6
There must be a monthly cost review covering not only what has been spent and committed but also projected costs to the conclusion of the program. Don't have the books ninety days late and don't surprise the customer with sudden overruns.

Posted by Alaska Paul">Alaska Paul 2005-10-25 21:59|| 2005-10-25 21:59|| Front Page Top

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