So it looks like NASA is about to make a big announcement about water on Mars. I'm watching the live feed of NASA TV on the internet. More later...
At first glance, I would have sworn this was a Sandcrawler.
Seriously though, it's pretty amazing to think that we have two rovers on opposite sides of Mars that are autonomously navigating and talking to two communications satellites (Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey) in orbit above them. And all this is going on around another planet, over 10 light-minutes away.
While I think the idea of a major government initiative to send men to Mars is absurd until we can cheaply and safely get to orbit, this does get me excited about the prospect.
Update: Added the image above.
So I've been meaning to write some posts about space for a while, and this article in The Register is a good enough place to start:
Galileo, the prestigious European satellite navigation system, is under threat by the US military, which wants to degrade its accuracy, according to the German TV news programme Tagesschau.This is obviously irritating a lot of people, who see it as a unilateral move to protect our hegemony.
The US has long been bothered by the thought of a GPS replacement that can't be turned off at a moment's notice. The recent British agreement to cooperate on a common European defense and the potential marginalization of NATO doesn't make anyone in Washington like the idea of a competing system any more.
Of course, if the Galileo system ever was used against the US military, by a rogue nation for instance, it is likely that we would degrade the accuracy through other means — so we are probably pitching US control as an alternative to "more costly" options.
Regardless, this just highlights a fact that I've talked about before: space is the next battleground. The recent conflicts have shown how crucial dominance of low earth orbit is to our military — from reconnaissance, to communications, to navigation, to precision guidance. With the ABM treaty dismantled and China making bold moves, I fear its not too long before the hopes for a peaceful final frontier are shattered.
