Actually, launching stuff on cut-rate vehicles has its perils.
My brother worked for ten years on a project that got launched on a
cut-rate, non-NASA launch vehicle--there was political pressure to
show cost savings at the time.
You guessed it: straight into the Pacific; straight to the bottom
with some very expensive gear and ten years' time of numerous
scientists and engineers.
And I don't expect the Air Force to ask the Russians to launch
sensitive gear with military applications and, no doubt, lots of
military secrets. Let's not forget that GPS was originally for
military use only. But with the satellites up there, civilian
companies started building GPS gear, and the rest is history.
On Feb 5, 2010, at 2:23 PM, tjpa wrote:
On Feb 5, 2010, at 10:20 AM, Constance Warner wrote:
Then write your congressperson about the GPS system in general.
And NASA is the main agency in the satellite business (cf. the
weather satellites we all depend on) and could well launch the
replacements for GPS, if any.
Actually the Russian space agency provides this service at lower
cost and greater accuracy (because it has not been deliberately
dumbed down by the generals).
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