50GB per 24Hrs is only about 5Mb/s 24/7 - Just hook up a WLAN to a dish - easy - plenty of spare b/w too. :)

Putting a radio telescope on the other side of the moon where there will be no interference from terrestrial sources...now THAT would be a good idea.

You could put an Arecibo type dish in one of them craters too.

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Life is short so, make the best of it.

50GB per 24Hrs is only about 5Mb/s 24/7 - Just hook up a WLAN to a dish - easy - plenty of spare b/w too. :)

Actually to use less bandwidth they put computers on the space probes/telescopes so they can make the preliminary data handling and just send down to Earth the really relevant data.

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"Failure is not an option."
Gene Kranz, Apollo 13 Flight Director

"Be the change you want to see in the World"
Mahatma Gandhi

My web-page:
www.dywanik.eu

Putting a radio telescope on the other side of the moon where there will be no interference from terrestrial sources...now THAT would be a good idea.

You could put an Arecibo type dish in one of them craters too.

We don't even have a permanent base up there (thanks to national instead of international space programms) and you are talking about an installation as large as a few football fields (material and mass are the problems cost factors) ... .

Since the early 1990s it's clear that no nation can afford to build things like that alone. But what do I see when watching TV or reading papers on this subject: US/NASA program for a trip to and base on moon, the same for europe/esa, russian, china, japan and india.
Mars - the same stupidity ...

We don't even have a permanent base up there (thanks to national instead of international space programms) and you are talking about an installation as large as a few football fields (material and mass are the problems cost factors) ... .

Well what may cost a lot to build on Earth may not cost so much to build on the moon. I speak from an Engineering point of view but of course the cost of sending parts over there negates those cost savings. The moon having less gravity means that we can install very light structures and it will hold. However, a project of such magnitude may need multinational funding.

Since the early 1990s it's clear that no nation can afford to build things like that alone. But what do I see when watching TV or reading papers on this subject: US/NASA program for a trip to and base on moon, the same for europe/esa, russian, china, japan and india.
Mars - the same stupidity ...

I am sorry I don't quite follow. To goto Mars is as stupid as going to the moon?

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Life is short so, live it well.

"I am sorry I don't quite follow. To goto Mars is as stupid as going to the moon?"


Sorry I'm from germany so my english isn't perfect and perhaps I didn't use the correct phrase. What I meant is that nearly all programms whether dealing with bases on moon or mars are national ones - for me: stupid, stupid, stupid ...

I think what he's saying, and I'd have to agree, is that in order for something of that magnitude to be accomplished and more to the point, be adequately funded, it would need to be a cooperative project between several nations. I think it's politics and red tape holding that back from actually happening any time soon though.

I think what he's saying, and I'd have to agree, is that in order for something of that magnitude to be accomplished and more to the point, be adequately funded, it would need to be a cooperative project between several nations. I think it's politics and red tape holding that back from actually happening any time soon though.

Politics, I agree but red tape? If red tape is such a hindrance, ISS wouldn't be happening. I think politics is the only culprit. To sponsor a zero gravity station so that miracle drugs can be commercialized, yes. Go to Mars when it is not yet proven to be habitable, no. Search for ET??!, that is heresy, a big No.

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Life is short so, live it well.

Fortunately things are changing. I recently read an article by some guy from NASA who said that everything "easy" has been done and there are no more objectives that a single nation can achieve. A good example is a planned mission to Jupiter by NASA and ESA. It was supposed to be two separate missions but thanks to some smart people they will work together.
And the other thing about space is, as some of you said, politics. I've been to a lecture given by one of the engineers building ATV and she said they were once visited by a group of NASA engineers. The ATV team had a problem with some part (can't remember what it was) and they asked the NASA guys if they could suggest a solution. Unfortunately the answer was "Yes, we have the solution, no, we cannot give you any hints due to 'knowledge export regulations' but would really like to!". So the ATV people had to invent something that was already invented! And in my opinion that is the biggest problem in science. BTW the opposite thing happened between China and Russia. The Chinese just bought schematics for the space ship and space suit from Russians. Now that's a cooperation.

To be honest, I'd like to see The Terran Space Agency one day.<dreamer>

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"Failure is not an option."
Gene Kranz, Apollo 13 Flight Director

"Be the change you want to see in the World"
Mahatma Gandhi

My web-page:
www.dywanik.eu