Comments on: Saving space science – do you Uwingu?

By: ANTIcarrot

ANTIcarrot — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 12:12:20 +0000

I think I’ll pass for two reasons.
1) I must have blinked and missed where they discribed what they actually intend to do. Maybe I simply couldn’t hear it over the dull roar of faux inspirational jingoism?
2) I’ve been to many space exhibits, and museums – and I’ve never seen anything devoted to rocket engine cycles, or the rocket equation, or any actual space science for that matter. There are plenty of pretty pictures, but no actual mention of engineering, mathematics, or science. In space books published after the 80s, these thing are completely absent too. And that’s when the books aren’t myopically focusing on ‘APOLLO ELEVEN (and a few other unimportant events)’.

By: Phillip Helbig

Phillip Helbig — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 17:15:22 +0000

“I recently worked out that I’m paying (through taxes) roughly $6 a month for NASA. “

Yes, compared to other costs (such as the US military budget, which is about two million dollars per minute) NASA is peanuts. As Sagan once said when talking about the costs of space probes exploring the solar system, a penny a world for each person on Earth.

There are some things, and basic research is one, which should be funded by the government. I think even some libertarians might agree with me on this. Things like this could backfire: Budget cut, no problem, the community will crowd-fund it.

By: David C

David C — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 18:09:43 +0000

Well, you really know your friends when something like this comes up!? (
Where are all the posters now Phil???
$10 each, from 7,0000 people would bring this to the 75,000 needed to get started. Are there not that many that breeze past BA and the many other sites that have posted on this? I’m living on $1100 OAP up here in Canada, and I could afford a one time donation, of $10, hoping to squeeze out another before the start date period ends. I’m not even American and it looks like I care more than you guys that say your interested in science. SHAME on you!!!

By: Matthew Ota

Matthew Ota — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 15:56:33 +0000

My career of choice pays only half of what it did ten years ago. I cannot afford to give money away to a cause that I support. I would gladly volunteer to do sign work for them.

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 13:20:56 +0000

Comment 2 from “Passer by” notes that this company has told the government that it intends to provide a commercial service that lets people “name both features on the surfaces of bodies in the solar system and solar system bodies themselves”. This is what the IAU already does – by international agreement. So how can some one decide that the are going to compete with the IAU? Are they going to start charging people to name things anything they want with no established standards? This will simply make things more confusing. I think they need to explain themselves better before asking for people’s money IMHO.

By: SLC

SLC — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 13:01:03 +0000

Apropos of this post, here’s the latest posting from Bob Park on this topic. Of course, there are those in these parts who insist that Bob Park, and by extension Steven Weinberg, doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

2. CURIOSITY: THE ADVENTURES OF A VIRTUAL ASTRONAUT.
Launching the Mars Science Laboratory Rover on a 150,000,000 mile journey to Gale Crater on Mars was a lot easier than landing it safely once it got there, but NASA pulled the incredible landing maneuver off perfectly. After all, this was science-NASA, the part of NASA that explores the moons of Saturn with unmanned spacecraft, and uses space telescopes to discover exoplanets orbiting distant stars. The new Rover, which also answers to the whimsical name Curiosity, will explore Gale Crater for one Martian year (687 Earth days) looking for evidence of extraterrestrial life. This may call for a sample return mission, but its still the greatest quest in science. There are, however, two NASAs. Curiosity is also called on to evaluate the habitability of Mars. Thats a concession to astronaut- NASA, the larger half of NASAs budget. Astronaut-NASA dominated the space program from Apollo to the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station, which trapped astronaut-NASA in low-Earth orbit. But as I pointed out in my article in Slate Magazine on Monday, the astronaut program simply must not be allowed to control NASA as long as there is a search for extraterrestrial life.

By: VinceRN

VinceRN — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 06:43:14 +0000

Very cool. I will chip in too.

By: Rince

Rince — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 21:52:07 +0000

I did my part. I contributed and wrote about it in my blog. As much as I like the idea, however, I do agree with those who say that being so vague in the description is a very bad marketing. It discourages people. If I did not know some of the people involved, I might not have donated myself. I do like the name though…

By: jick

jick — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 19:51:57 +0000

It’s funny how some people are put off with “non-American” name. The Ubuntu Linux being named in Swahili didn’t stop them from being the default installation in many American companies.

They could have named their startup Star-Spangled Bald Eagle Shooting Fireworks if they wanted, and that will be a quick way to put off people like me who want space exploration because science is cool, not because they’re interested in America’s continued dominance in space technology.

If China is repeating the Apollo-era American mindset of “Let’s go to space because OUR COUNTRY IS GREAT!”, then it’s a reason to pity them, not envy them. We all know what happened when the excitement was over.

By: Darth Imperius

Darth Imperius — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:40:09 +0000

This is a rather sad commentary on the current state of our civilization: scientists resorting to selling games and Chinese-made junk to fund their science, and using a Swahili name for the enterprise. If you want to understand the crisis we face, look in the mirror. Where is your higher vision and ideology? What about this “Uwingu” will inspire the American public? Are you scientists or shopkeepers? Don’t you see that a culturally fragmented America united only by dollar worship is a hopeless ideological foundation for large-scale scientific projects? Go study China, how they are using imperial, quasi-National Socialist memes to promote their space program, or consider the impact of German immigrants who had a similar ethos on the American space program, and realize how petty and pathetic we in the West have become. You must change your culture and your minds if you want to conquer space!