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- inactive, on 06/20/2008, -0/+12Its good to see that despite the notable handicap of being dead this hasn't stopped him from refueling international space stations..... oh wait. ....ahh ok nevermind.
- karolisonline, on 06/20/2008, -1/+8this one works without any control or help from earth - it is robotic. in 70' there was no such a thing as advanced robotics. soviets also had automatic system sojuz, but it used radio signal to connect to the station. Jules Verne can use visual data, laser data and it also can do complex actions. to put everything in a nut shell it is not machine it is low-end (from future perspective) robot.
- kazamx, on 06/20/2008, -1/+8er...... thats what press releases do. The whole point of a press release is to put a positive spin on the situation.
The fact is, for all its problems, it worked. - karolisonline, on 06/20/2008, -2/+5men, your are naive if You think that NASA's press releases are more honest. also think about all the PR done in whole. fact is that Europe is more efficient per invested money amount than assia or america (it is true), UK holds 1/3 of world weapons export, there are more high-quality scientists in europe than in any other continent. fact is that europe consists of more 30 countries and every of them has separate interests, that is why european achievements has less clarity and are less known, we don't have centralized PR as usa has. and yes ESA is one of those institutions that is centralized and has centralized PR.
- ixid, on 06/20/2008, -1/+4We prefer to use the term 'differently active'.
- typographics, on 06/20/2008, -2/+5My spaceship doesn't run on unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine. I converted to corn oil.
- DoscoJones, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2No. Skylab was not designed to be refueled. Skylab II was, but it was never built.
- airshowfan, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Didn't the Orbital Express satellite transfer fuel to another satellite last year?
http://www.boeing.com/ids/advanced_systems/orbital ... - DrivinWest, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2Wrong. Progress and Soyuz have been doing automatic dockings far longer than ATV (the shuttle could but they have since chosen not to - manual docking are safer).
- karolisonline, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1if you haven't had started the war 70 years ago, usa would be catching my country not other way... after war all scientists from your country were brought to the usa, so what do You except? also, present european governments don't finance big space missions, so ESA gets 10x less financing than NASA... but again.. I think it is better to have well financed social system rather than good space program... the only ones who benefit from space programs most are weapon manufacturers because you can cover a lot of military development under space programs..
also, how can You achieve something when everyone in western europe is studying sociology or psychology? no one wants to study physics, math, engineering... I think illuminati done good job in europe already. - DrivinWest, on 06/20/2008, -6/+7I work for ESA and I'm really getting a laugh out of these press releases. No really, I really do work for ESA and I really am getting a laugh.
ESA is a Public Relations firm. It exists mostly to let the populaces of the participating countries that Europe is keeping up with the Joneses (USA and Russia).
The truth is, the ATV has been wrought with problems since day one (completely glossed over in ESA press reports). Same goes for the Columbus module. Every failure is swept under the rug. Pathetic. - inactive, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1Now infrastructure is starting to be an overused buzzword
- bosssmiley, on 06/20/2008, -2/+2"...Jules Verne becomes the first western spaceship to succeed in refuelling another space infrastructure in orbit."
Didn't they use Apollo orbiters to refuel Skylab back in the '70s? - DrivinWest, on 06/20/2008, -4/+3Wrong. Look at NASA press releases. They're honest. They're put out by engineers, not PR people. This is GOVERNMENT money. The tax payers deserve the truth rather than having smoke blow up their asses.
- DrivinWest, on 06/20/2008, -6/+4You, who knows ***** all about the industry, are the naive one. Go read NASA's last press release from the last mission. You'll note a detailed engineering analysis of anything that was considered even remotely anomalous.
Now read the one about the ATV. Where are the mention of the Propulsion Drive Electronics failures? The failed life support fan? The inability to feather the arrays during a critical docking period? They're not there because they've been swept under the rug. We, Europe, are cutting off our noses to spite our faces. Future engineers will learn nothing from present failures.
More high quality scientists? You're comparing an entire continent of 450m people vs. one (the USA) of 300m. They're also leaving here in droves and moving to the US and Asia where they can actually make a decent living.
If what you said is true, we wouldn't need 75 years to catch the USA: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/m ... - inactive, on 06/20/2008, -7/+2Finally the west catches up with 1980's technology.
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