I really have no words to describe how brain-dead this is: http://motherboard.vice.com/2012/8/6/nasa-s-mars-rover-crashed-into-a-dmca-takedown

This is exactly why Youtube needs to die. We need a truly free and independent video site(like youtube originally was before the google guys bought it) hosted somewhere even the U.S. government can't reach it. Siberia maybe?

To get back on topic, have you guys seen the pictures being returned by Curiosity?

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/gallery-indexEvents.html

Totally not worth funding right?

Awesome photos, totally worth funding. It just would be better if the people funding them weren't doing so under the threat of jailtime.

You do realize you're speaking out against the entire concept of taxes, not just one organization right? Taxes are always going to exist, and lets face it, the American people as a whole will pretty much always prefer to spend that money on bettering the nation than to lower the rates. Frankly I'd rather spend that money on space travel than on war fighting or factory farms.

I believe he's implying it'd be amazing if we opted to donate more money to NASA than what's allotted through taxation.

Yes, income tax specifically (repealing the 16th Amendment). Hard core anarcho-libertarians would be opposed to any taxes at all, and believe that even defense can be privatized; but I still think that the federal government has a legitimate role to play in society, just that it is quite limited, and should only be funded through tariffs and excise taxes.



I would have no problem with NASA as a federal agency if it was funded purely through donations, though I think it is a little silly to do that rather than having NASA exist as a private 501(c)3.

We probably shouldn't be getting into a tax debate in a space topic(and I apologize for in any way moving us in that direction). The fact remains that NASA does incredible things when it has the funding do so. Where the funding comes from is out of the range of this discussion imo.

*bump*

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/09/moon-high-res-3d-images/?utm_source=Contextly&utm_medium=RelatedLinks&utm_campaign=Interesting

More awesome photos courtesy of NASA, this time of the surface of the moon.

Is everyone familiar with APOD http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?

Not sure if this has been posted already, but I though I'd stick it here anyway:

That's actually really really cool. I have to show my dad this, he'll be completely amazed.

Awesome

http://www.startrek.com/article/impluse-engines-to-be-a-reality-by-2030

It seems Impulse power might be a reality soon enough! Which is of course, totally cool. And they named deuterium as one of the fuel sources, which was quoted on star trek many times, especially voyager. So epic.

Wow...This will so freaking be awesome..too bad I'll be all old and stuff

Huh, I wonder what the fuel cycle they're planning on using is, I don't know much about products of Lithium in a fusion reaction (are we getting a Beryllium ion + a nucleon and electron, or something else?), what temperatures they need to achieve for a good fusion cross-section, and if they're going for neutronic or aneutronic byproducts. Seems pretty cool if it works out. I'm sad the article didn't say if it was intended to be ICF or MCF either.

[edit]

So boss: http://jalopnik.com/5949166/how-to-steal-the-space-shuttle-a-step+by+step-guide

^_^ www.wired.com/autopia/2012/10/spacex-engine-loss-orbit/


also, this is cute: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/10/curiosity-shakes-up-soil/

[quote="seana11"]Not sure if this has been posted already, but I though I'd stick it here anyway:

That is simply amazing...

Imagine what results atto photography would give us

Interesting, I noticed a comment about "maximum aerodynamic pressure reached" during the Mission Control chatter, but I didn't think anything of it. This is a great step, though, and I hope more companies step up to spur a new, privatized space race.

This is sexy.