[extropy-chat] Huygens: First visitor to Titan

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Stephen Van_Sickle <sjvans at ameritech.net> wrote:

> 
> --- Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> wrote:
> 
> > There's no science to be done in suborbital flights.
> > It's all been done in 1960s with Laika et al.
> 
> Really?  Then why did Nasa alone launch 87 sounding
> rockets in the last 4 years?
> 
> http://www.wff.nasa.gov/~code810/SRBlueBook.htm
> 
> ESA seems to have an active suborbital program as
> well.
> 
> http://spaceflight.esa.int/users/file.cfm?filename=facsrockets
>  
> > SpaceShipOne isn't even a suborbital flight. 
> 
> It wasn't?  Guess they fooled me.  Sure looked like
> it.

Me too: they went into space, in a ballistic trajectory, they didn't
attain orbit, ergo: sub-orbital.
> 
> Which is all moot, since "per minute" is a very silly
> figure of merit for science.

Is this because scientists doing pure research distain the idea of
'profit' and 'breaking even', and never have to entertain such silly
concepts in grant applications?

Applied science has to demonstrate cost effectiveness by some metric:
whether it is number of patentable discoveries, number of papers
published, number of Nobel prizes earned, number of megabytes of data,
number of minutes of 'stick time', per dollar spent, some ratio of cost
effectiveness must be demonstrated, else what is the point of "Better,
Faster, *Cheaper*" unless you know exactly what 'cheaper' actually *means*.

=====
Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Sadomikeyism


		
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