Mark
the two points you raise are interesting
Education...you wrote in part "
.
>
> It does list "intercommunication", but it also lists "self-training"
> and "technical investigations", which certainly have a clear
> educational mandate.
you can interpret that anyway you want to...but I dont see a mandate there to
do "general education"...but even if there was one...
it is bogus to say "this project failed in its main goal but was a success
because it did education". Put another way...the recent "crash on the Moon and
find water".
Would you really buy that the 80 million dollars spent was well spent if the
effort did not answer the basic scientific questions it was designed to do (and
we dont know if it did or did not but it probably didnt)...if it "did good
education" (my words).
I dont.
If the 80 million was going to do education, it should have been spent on
that...and there are ways to do it. If something has a primary goal and that
primary goal improves education then thats great...but when the primary goal
fails...it is a stretch of massive proportions to say "well it was a success
because it educated people".
I dont know how the "education" thing got into ham radio, but I imagine it is
one of the virus that we got when we started interfacing with NASA for ham
radio. There is no justification for human spaceflight (and I am not the only
one that thinks that...the Augustine Commission agrees there is not) so NASA
and its groupies try everything to justify it including "education".
Yes, we could kick a very
> basic linear transponder out of the ISS, and it would float around in
> LEO and allow you to make some contacts, but so what? What purpose
> would be served?
A great deal. It would allow communications and experimentation and self
teaching in ham radio which is the essence of the hobby.
I'll turn it around. What purpose is going to be served by another flop like
Suitsat 1?
I hope I am wrong about the failure rate but probably not. We will
see...Suitsat2 is definatly going the way it is.
Robert WB5MZO
_________________________________________________________________
Your E-mail and More On-the-Go. Get Windows Live Hotmail Free.
http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/171222985/direct/01/
_______________________________________________
Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
