ISS -85 billion! Worth it?

Post Reply
User avatar
Rum
Absent Minded Processor
Posts: 37285
Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:25 pm
Location: South of the border..though not down Mexico way..
Contact:
Contact Rum

ISS -85 billion! Worth it?

Post by Rum » Thu Dec 15, 2011 9:51 pm

Read earlier that the international space station has cost 85 billion so far (let's assume dollars). Was/is it worth it? Would it have been better spent on say alternative energy or poverty relief, or whatever?
Top
User avatar
Clinton Huxley
19th century monkeybitch.
Posts: 23739
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2009 4:34 pm
Contact:
Contact Clinton Huxley

Re: ISS -85 billion! Worth it?

Post by Clinton Huxley » Thu Dec 15, 2011 10:09 pm

It's a caravan in space. Useless.
"I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled"

AND MERRY XMAS TO ONE AND All!

Imagehttp://25kv.co.uk/date_counter.php?date ... 20counting!!![/img-sig]
Top
User avatar
Rum
Absent Minded Processor
Posts: 37285
Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:25 pm
Location: South of the border..though not down Mexico way..
Contact:
Contact Rum

Re: ISS -85 billion! Worth it?

Post by Rum » Thu Dec 15, 2011 10:12 pm

Perhaps our fate is to colonise the stars and this is the first tiny step?
Top
User avatar
Clinton Huxley
19th century monkeybitch.
Posts: 23739
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2009 4:34 pm
Contact:
Contact Clinton Huxley

Re: ISS -85 billion! Worth it?

Post by Clinton Huxley » Thu Dec 15, 2011 10:26 pm

Rum wrote:Perhaps our fate is to colonise the stars and this is the first tiny step?
We're all gonna buy it on this rock.

We could have had dozens of whizzy mars rovers and Europa landers for the price of that heap of junk
"I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled"

AND MERRY XMAS TO ONE AND All!

Imagehttp://25kv.co.uk/date_counter.php?date ... 20counting!!![/img-sig]
Top
User avatar
Rum
Absent Minded Processor
Posts: 37285
Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:25 pm
Location: South of the border..though not down Mexico way..
Contact:
Contact Rum

Re: ISS -85 billion! Worth it?

Post by Rum » Thu Dec 15, 2011 10:33 pm

Well I tend to agree. Optimism glimmers in the background though...
Top
User avatar
Warren Dew
Posts: 3781
Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2010 1:41 pm
Location: Somerville, MA, USA
Contact:
Contact Warren Dew

Re: ISS -85 billion! Worth it?

Post by Warren Dew » Sat Dec 17, 2011 1:18 am

Rum wrote:Read earlier that the international space station has cost 85 billion so far (let's assume dollars). Was/is it worth it? Would it have been better spent on say alternative energy or poverty relief, or whatever?
The government doesn't need to spend money to encourage alternative energy - in fact, it can make money on it, by taxing fossil fuels.

It could even use the fossil fuel taxes to fund the space station.
Top
User avatar
Ian
Mr Incredible
Posts: 16975
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:42 pm
Location: Washington DC

Re: ISS -85 billion! Worth it?

Post by Ian » Sat Dec 17, 2011 1:36 am

Global GDP for just one year is around $64 trillion. $85 billion is 0.0013% of one year's GDP. Sounds like a reasonable investment to me.
Top
User avatar
Gawdzilla Sama
Stabsobermaschinist
Posts: 151265
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 12:24 am
About me: My posts are related to the thread in the same way Gliese 651b is related to your mother's underwear drawer.
Location: Sitting next to Ayaan in Domus Draconis, and communicating via PMs.
Contact:
Contact Gawdzilla Sama

Re: ISS -85 billion! Worth it?

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Sat Dec 17, 2011 1:43 am

Per ardua ad astra.
Image
Ein Ubootsoldat wrote:“Ich melde mich ab. Grüssen Sie bitte meine Kameraden.”
Top
User avatar
FBM
Ratz' first Gritizen.
Posts: 45327
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 12:43 pm
About me: Skeptic. "Because it does not contend
It is therefore beyond reproach"
Contact:
Contact FBM

Re: ISS -85 billion! Worth it?

Post by FBM » Sat Dec 17, 2011 1:50 am

If I knew more about what sort of science they were doing up there, I'd be quicker to offer an opinion. If it's just something to showcase, then they need to can that shit and work on some problems down here. If they're working on something cool like an anti-gravity suit or something, I say rock on...
"A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it." ~ H. L. Mencken

"We ain't a sharp species. We kill each other over arguments about what happens when you die, then fail to see the fucking irony in that."

"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion."
Top
User avatar
JimC
The sentimental bloke
Posts: 74174
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:58 am
About me: To be serious about gin requires years of dedicated research.
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:
Contact JimC

Re: ISS -85 billion! Worth it?

Post by JimC » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:11 am

What use is a baby?
Nurse, where the fuck's my cardigan?
And my gin!
Top
User avatar
Clinton Huxley
19th century monkeybitch.
Posts: 23739
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2009 4:34 pm
Contact:
Contact Clinton Huxley

Re: ISS -85 billion! Worth it?

Post by Clinton Huxley » Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:49 am

JimC wrote:What use is a baby?
Depends how much gravy you have.
Top
User avatar
JimC
The sentimental bloke
Posts: 74174
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:58 am
About me: To be serious about gin requires years of dedicated research.
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:
Contact JimC

Re: ISS -85 billion! Worth it?

Post by JimC » Sat Dec 17, 2011 10:00 am

Clinton Huxley wrote:
JimC wrote:What use is a baby?
Depends how much gravy you have.
Only on Ratz...

:hehe:
Nurse, where the fuck's my cardigan?
And my gin!
Top
User avatar
Gawdzilla Sama
Stabsobermaschinist
Posts: 151265
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 12:24 am
About me: My posts are related to the thread in the same way Gliese 651b is related to your mother's underwear drawer.
Location: Sitting next to Ayaan in Domus Draconis, and communicating via PMs.
Contact:
Contact Gawdzilla Sama

Re: ISS -85 billion! Worth it?

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Sat Dec 17, 2011 3:03 pm

So, any baby recipes to share? :begging:


Hades?




:leave:
Image
Ein Ubootsoldat wrote:“Ich melde mich ab. Grüssen Sie bitte meine Kameraden.”
Top
User avatar
Audley Strange
"I blame the victim"
Posts: 7485
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:00 pm
Contact:
Contact Audley Strange

Re: ISS -85 billion! Worth it?

Post by Audley Strange » Sat Dec 17, 2011 3:22 pm

It is our nature to colonise, we need to get out there. The ISS is a step towards long term orbital living which in turn is a stage closer to moonbases etc. The first fish out of the ocean did not invent the internal combustion engine. We're babies still.
"What started as a legitimate effort by the townspeople of Salem to identify, capture and kill those who did Satan's bidding quickly deteriorated into a witch hunt" Army Man
Top
Post Reply

Return to “Science, Technology & Environment”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests