Argentina Launches First Satellite

[ghost]

It is amazing how much NASA technology has been freely shared through out the world. But I do not think that they are about share this. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29669205

 

[ArielFabian]

It is amazing how much NASA technology has been freely shared through out the world. But I do not think that they are about share this. http://www.bbc.com/n...canada-29669205

I think NASA is the best now, but not sure if it was US was the only that shared something
Russia is well ranked with satellites in orbit: http://satellitedebris.net/Database/LaunchHistoryView.php , I also heard that Russian scientists helped US with the creation of Pentium technology improving the Russian Elbrus technology for military use (I guess this helped NASA) http://www.theregister.co.uk/1999/06/07/intel_uses_russia_military_technologies/, also Russia was the #1 country in sending a man to space without NASA help

 

[ghost]

I think NASA is the best now, but not sure if it was US was the only that shared something
Russia is well ranked with satellites in orbit: http://satellitedebris.net/Database/LaunchHistoryView.php , I also heard that Russian scientists helped US with the creation of Pentium technology improving the Russian Elbrus technology for military use (I guess this helped NASA) http://www.theregister.co.uk/1999/06/07/intel_uses_russia_military_technologies/, also Russia was the #1 country in sending a man to space without NASA help

Russia has never successfully launched a space shuttle. They have one but it will never fly in space. It was a dud from birth. However there were some years that we shared some technology. Who knows who derived the greatest benefit. I think it is the Chinese, they stole from Russia and the US and the Fr/BR technology.

 

[camberiu]

Russia has never successfully launched a space shuttle. They have one but it will never fly in space. It was a dud from birth. However there were some years that we shared some technology. Who knows who derived the greatest benefit. I think it is the Chinese, they stole from Russia and the US and the Fr/BR technology

The Buran flew beautifully into orbit on its first and final flight. It was a fully automated flight, and quite a technical achievement. It never flew again simply due to lack of funds, as the Soviet economy collapsed, but it worked like a Swiss watch and was technically superior to the US space shuttle in pretty much every aspect.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

How was the Shuttleski superior to the US Shuttle?

 

[camberiu]

How was the Shuttleski superior to the US Shuttle?

It could carry a larger payload. It was also designed to be much safer than the Shuttle. It was fully automated and controlled by very powerful computers both on board and on the ground, who conducted constant diagnostics looking for any malfunction. The crew literally did not have to do anything. If during launch, any malfunction with the Energia rocket was detected by the computers, it would automatically detach the Buran from the launcher and automatically glide the ship back to a landing strip. If the computers detected any problem with the Buran itself, it would automatically activate the ejection seats for the crew. The launch setup was also much simpler and therefore less prone to failures, with only the Energia rocket, instead of a pair of solid rocket boosters and a huge liquid fuel tank under the shuttle, which caused the demise of the Challenger. It had much more advanced heat shielding than the US Shuttle, with heat tiles that were much less prone from accidentally detaching from the fuselage, which caused the fatal accident with the Columbia when re-entering the atmosphere.

 

[scotttswan]

Just wait until the uk builds its spaceplane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylon_(spacecraft)

 

[ElQueso]

Better stuff will be flying from private companies around the world soon...particularly Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin with VTVL capabilities, quick turn-around time for flights, etc.

In the next 20 years or so, we'll probably be seeing commercial suborbital flights half-way around the world in 15 minutes or so, largely due to VTVL craft that can travel faster than a winged space shuttle through the atmosphere...but passengers will have to tolerate a good portion of the trip in free-fall - find out who makes good barf bags adaptable for weightless flight and clean up on early investments

Private development in space will far out-perform anything the governments are doing for various reasons, the most important being the profit motive. But I give NASA and other space agencies who are working with private industry kudos for providing some funding to help them get into space, although it could be done without public funding.

But NASA throwing out McDonnel-Douglas' Delta Clipper is typical of government idiocy in many things - though Blue Origin is profiting from the work put into it.

 

[ArielFabian]

In the next 20 years or so, we'll probably be seeing commercial suborbital flights half-way around the world in 15 minutes or so, largely due to VTVL craft that can travel faster than a winged space shuttle through the atmosphere...but passengers will have to tolerate a good portion of the trip in free-fall - find out who makes good barf bags adaptable for weightless flight and clean up on early investments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1DTY2XMbzE

 

[Crema Americana]

I don't mind public spending when it comes to research and development - plenty of awesome things have come out of NASA and the military. Eventually these technologies make it into the private sector for civilian life and everyone benefits. Technology is extremely expensive and many companies aren't willing or able to take on these long term projects if there aren't profits. Public spending with goals can lead to progress.

However that's different than a country spending a boatload of money to buy a bunch of aircraft it doesn't need or develop a satellite they could have bought just so they can thump their chest and say "we made this." It may have a good outcome, though. If it gets Argentines interested in science and development, that can only lead to good things as long as it's real -- a country needs good engineers. My fear is that it will become like "industria Argentina" where it is claimed things are made here, but really it's just a lot of imported parts and oldish technology.