What with all the recent naming activities, maybe you creative types should give it a go for real. NASA has a new space telescope with a humdrum moniker and they want something catchy, original, and that evokes the nature of the mission: to analyze extreme radiation in space: gamma rays, gamma ray bursts, dark matter, supermassive black holes, etc.

The current name is GLAST, or Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope. Pretty boring. The new name doesn't have to be an acronym, they just want, well, here, read the rules below. And it's not exactly a contest--no prizes--other than the satisfaction of seeing a multi-billion dollar, six nation satellite telescope unit with your name on it.

http://glast.sonoma.edu/glastname/


Here's mine:

VADER Vast Area Detection: Extreme Radiation

 

DUDE!!, they're just asking for it
[&:][&:]

 

STIWMTMG


So This Is Where My Tax Money Goes

 

**** PROBE

A merica
N eeds
A nother
L ame

P rogram
R equiring
O utstanding
B udget
E xpenditures

 

[sm=smiley36.gif]

 

It's all about the cool pictures. [8D]

 

lol...nice....

 

Lame? Outstanding expenditure? I think you mean the war--not the miniscule 0.1 percent of the annual federal budget that NASA gets. More money gets spent on operating aircraft carriers than on the entire space program.

Way to establish the Average American status...uninformed and apathetic about math and science. No wonder we rank near the bottom for industrialized nations. Good job Yanks.

Our beleaguered space program is the only thing this country has left that leads the world (aside from Marines, oohrah), surrounded by bean counters and Luddites--which is why the newest kick-*** satellite is up for re-naming before launch--to get the kids interested in exactly how the world goes around. But not you kids, you kids will be glue eaters and booger wipers until the day you die.

 

^^ I agree. American's are usually more intrigued with who the next American Idol is going to be, rather than finding out if there's life on Mars, supernovas, etc. etc. Not bashing American's or anything (because I'm one of them), but we all have to admit, the American cultural norms are a bit "low-standard"..........largely thanks to MTV, VH1's "celebreality" and other BS shows like this that parents watch with their kids (or let their kids watch), rather than inspiring, high-quality programming found on Discovery, TLC, PBS and BBC.

Not to mention that I work for a cable company that doesn't offer the NASA channel (which is provided to cable providers for FREE), yet we have 5 MTV and 4 VH1 channels.

(sorry, guess you can class this post as a mini-rant)

 

+1 Spirit and Fox

I worked at the Kenedy Space Center for10 years (Chemical Engineer on the Solid Rocket Boosters)and all I gotta say is that some of you guys are being a little rough on those folks. There is PLENTY of wasted money, but the trickle down effect of what they are doing in NASA is very helpful in our everyday lives. Plus, you have to think of it as 'Welfare for the Intellegent'. We give money to people everyday to not work, why not pay the NASA/contractors to work and think up crazy stuff and give educated people a place to work since so much manufacturing is now overseas. The vast majority of what they are doing can be easily used to support the military, and without the ability to wage war, we will all be speaking Mandarin in 15 years. Trust me, it may cost alot to fly a few shuttles, but themoney they spent and the stuffthey learned in the Space Program destroyed the Soviet Union and now itis keeping 1.5 billion Chinese in their borders.