NASA wasted the better part of another $110 million of hard earned taxpayer money recently. NASA spent the money on a robotic spacecraft designed to rendezvous with satellites. The robotic spacecraft was supposed to get within 16 feet of a particular satellite as part of a test run. It only got within 300 feet, however, before it detected a fuel malfunction and had to abort. The spacecraft then did as designed and went into a disintegrating orbit in which it would burn up over the following 12 hours. Well done!
The project was considered high risk because of the automated controls and low budget. Low budget!?! Perhaps by government standards, but I would be very surprised if a private attempt at the same feat cost more than 1/10th of NASA’s “low budget” bust. It would succeed too! And not only succeed, but actually make contact with the satellite instead of just coming within 16 or 300 feet of it.
For more on NASA’s expensive “partial success,” see here and here.
Geoffrey is an Aristotelian-Libertarian political philosopher, writer, editor, and web designer. He is the founder of the