Glory Satellite Lost To Taurus XL Failure

FullBandwidth writes "The protective nose cone of an Orbital Sciences Corporation Taurus XL rocket carrying NASA's Glory environmental research satellite apparently failed to separate after launch Friday, preventing the spacecraft from achieving orbit in a $424 million failure. It was the second nose cone failure in a row for a Taurus XL rocket following the 2009 loss of another environmental satellite."

Re:Time for a launch loop

[dave420]

Very close? The longest carbon nanotube ever observed was only 18.5 cm long. I think LEO is a bit higher than that.

Re:$4 for every US Household

[inviolet]

Actually, Mercycorps (http://www.mercycorps.org/gifts) provides affordable "kits" that allow you to do just that. You can do anything from buying a chicken for an impoverished family for $35 up to digging a well for a drought struck village for $3000. My favorite kit is the goat. For $70 a family gets a goat they can turn out on the scrub around their house and get valuable wool, milk and eventually meat from.

These kits make great gifts for that person who "has everything". Well, does he have a rural third world classroom built in his honor ($125)? Maybe instead of that iPad for that special someone, you could pay for the education of five girls at $100 apiece; provide a dozen vaccinations to children at $45; or teach ten women to read at $50 apiece. You can reintegrate eight child soldiers to their community through education and apprenticeship programs for only $58 each.

I was excited about that website until I read the fine print:

These gifts are examples of what Mercy Corps does to save and improve lives in the world's toughest places. To help deliver the most effective solutions to the greatest number of people, your donation will be combined with other funds and used as it is most needed, not necessarily to purchase or distribute the actual item shown.

Meh. It's general-purpose charity with a fashionable front-end.

Re:$4 for every US Household

[PitaBred]

The middle class pays more by percentage of their income than the upper class (even if it's not more total). The middle class also lives much closer to the line of having to cut out various expenses if income changes, as compared to the rich. We already are putting our money where our mouths are [washingtonpost.com].

Three Amateur Radio sats also lost

[Muad'Dave]

Also lost in this launch were three Amateur Radio Satellites [southgatearc.org].

Re:$4 for every US Household

[PopeRatzo]

Rich people don't benefit more from police work just because they have more stuff to protect.

Sure they do. They use the courts more, they use infrastructure more, they benefit from increased access. They get more benefit from the Dept of Education because they hire people who have learned to read and write. They benefit from the Dept of Agriculture because thanks to the food stamp program there are not starving people overrunning their property and killing and eating their thoroughbred horses.

Remember, there isn't anyone in the United States who has gained wealth on the basis of their hard work and ingenuity alone. Not one. Their use of "the commons" and their benefit from "the commons" goes up along with their wealth.