Rosetta establishes orbit

florida2

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"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" is enough.

Then I'm sure you'll immediately get rid of your computer, car, house, modern clothes and go back to living in a cave. After all, that's how far humanity would be if they all wanted to live in ignorance.
 
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Mainframes

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What value is the data? What difference does it make to humanity? And the batteries are dead, 2 billion wasted.

The batteries are only drained on the lander, which achieved 80% of what was required of it. These may or may not be able to recharge once the comet gets closer to the sun and the more light hits its solar panels.

The rosetta craft continues to orbit and function perfectly and will return huge amounts of data as the comet approaches the sun and really starts outgassing.

Presumably it was a huge waste of money when Columbus said I fancy a quick trip west in these three boats......
 
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Standing_Ultraviolet

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What difference does it make to humanity?

This is one of the few examples where "blue sky research" actually has an obvious future utility. It should go without saying, but comets are dangerous. Knowing more about their composition and origin is actually important to understanding where they're likely to be and, more importantly, what we should do if we detect one on an Earth-intersecting course. That's information that you need to have beforehand, too. The end result of messing up slightly with Philae was a mission that was slightly less successful than it should have been, and a little disappointing. The end result of messing up if we're trying to stop a thousand foot in diameter chunk of ice and dust is an appalling loss of human life.
 
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florida2

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I always find it interesting when people complain about the cost of a space mission. Putting aside the benefits to knowledge and the real practical benefits that space exploration has given us.

They seem to regard it as if the £2 billion (or whatever figure) has been strapped to a rocket and blasted into space. That's ignoring the fact that the money is investment which grows a large number of supply business, creating more money, it also creates jobs and helps stimulate further research and development which also helps to grow the economy and increase wealth. However, people who are blinkered by their dogma can't see this, sadly.
 
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TerranceL

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There's also the relatively miniscule scale of all science and research spending in comparison to spending on other areas.

Imagine what we could do if we switched nasa and dod funding for one year?
 
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Linuxgal

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I always find it interesting when people complain about the cost of a space mission. Putting aside the benefits to knowledge and the real practical benefits that space exploration has given us.

There is nothing that a human can do on Mars that a robot can't do better, and cheaper. The moon shots were a cold war stunt.
 
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florida2

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There is nothing that a human can do on Mars that a robot can't do better, and cheaper. The moon shots were a cold war stunt.

Indeed, though the need to develop technologies to send humans into space has had direct benefits of its own.

A manned space mission to Mars would be incredible but has to be decades down the line. We need to return to the Moon first.
 
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JayFern

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The moon shots were a cold war stunt.
That brought in Billions of dollars to the US economy, like wars the space programme pushed innovation forward at an enormous pace and the whole world benefited in some way because of it, the Rosetta project is just one more tiny step.
 
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High Fidelity

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That brought in Billions of dollars to the US economy, like wars the space programme pushed innovation forward at an enormous pace and the whole world benefited in some way because of it, the Rosetta project is just one more tiny step.

Indeed!

Fortunately, as science continues to be popularised, the public will be more behind increased governmental spending on space and sciences in general.

I don't think it'll be long before there's a very strong voicing for more funding either.
 
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florida2

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Indeed!

Fortunately, as science continues to be popularised, the public will be more behind increased governmental spending on space and sciences in general.

I don't think it'll be long before there's a very strong voicing for more funding either.

I was thrilled by the huge public and media excitement over the mission here in the UK. Bodes well for the future.
 
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High Fidelity

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I was thrilled by the huge public and media excitement over the mission here in the UK. Bodes well for the future.

Indeed.

Brian Cox has done a lot for public opinion of science the world over, but especially so in the UK.

I think we have bright times ahead and ESA has tremendous potential.
 
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Delphiki

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Yes, scientists are afraid the comet will turn out to be rock instead of ice.

If you think that, then you don't understand science. Scientists would be amazed and excited if that were the case.

I can see how a religious person might assume that having your ideas challenged is somehow actually a bad thing.
 
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