Moon mission ready to go

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

Moon mission ready to go

Europe's first solo mission to the Moon has been given the green light to launch on Saturday.

The innovative Smart 1 probe will blast off from Kourou in French Guiana at just after 2300 GMT.

It will ride into space on an Ariane 5 rocket, which will also deploy two communications satellites.

Smart 1 will test a novel type of propulsion system on its mission and map lunar surface features.

MORE AT: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3136004.stm

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One of the greatest crimes of the modern age is that we abandoned the moon after expending so much effort and so many lives to reach it.

If we had continued the program, and taken it to its logical end, we would by now have a colony there. (The unfortunate part of that is, it would have been a military colony-- God knows what they would have been doing there...)

[Droopy]

1. I didn't know the Europeans had a space program.

I was under the impression, not long ago, that the U.S. and Russia were the only countries that did until I heard about the Japanese launching a similar rocket sending sattelites into space.

[wtmusic]

2. Wouldn't call it a crime

Although it was a great accomplishment priorities have changed, and it costs $$$. Imagine those billions put toward eradicating disease, or protecting the environment, or...

[Padraig18]

3. NASA

NASA returned many, many times it's cost to the American and world economies that I can scarcely understand the foolish short-sightedness that caused it to become so scaled back. *sigh*

[wtmusic]

4. Got anything to back that up?

Not doubting, just curious.

[lazarus]

5. well

here's the NASA Technology Spinoff Database.

http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/spinselect.html


And a neat place to browse through some of the tech NASA produced:

http://nctn.hq.nasa.gov/success/

If nothing else, thank NASA for that PC you're on. Most technology miniaturisation breakthroughs came from NASA, as did velcro and an amazing amount of medical technology.

Lots of advances in ceramics, metallurgy, and propulsion also came from the space programme.

[Interrobang]

6. Even Canada has a "space programme"...

The Canadarm and Roberta Bondar being its two most famous contributions. :)

Actually, I think a lot of the reason the US Gov't discontinued the space programme was because it was, at its fundament, an arms race. When there was no more serious competition from the Evil Empire, there was no need to do it any longer.

[Padraig18]

7. "Penny wise and punt foolish"...

... as my granny was fond of saying.