szabonj@ibmpa.UUCP (Nick Szabo) (12/17/89)
In article <31536@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> cdaf@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Charles Daffinger) writes: > >o From: clarinews@clarinet.com (United Press International) >o Subject: UPI NEWS AT A GLANCE >o Date: 13 Dec 89 16:08:45 GMT >o (this is from biz.clarinet.sample, so I guess I can include it:) >o >o >o TOKYO -- A Japanese firm has bought Moscow's only surplus Mir space >o station and an experimental science module for $10 million to help >o promote Japan's space industry, the company's president said Wednesday. >o > >Say what? I figure the price may be off by a few orders of magnitude, >but what's this really supposed to mean? > No, the $10 million figure is correct. That is about how much a Mir is really worth. Granted, the entire Mir project probably cost the Sovs three orders of magnitude more than that, but every good engineer knows the difference between work and energy, just as every good businessman knows the difference between cost and revenues. When you do things via socialism, a la the Soviet Union or NASA, these kinds of ridiculous things happen. For the Japanese, this is a trivial sum of money. The station will continue to be used as a tourist attraction in Nagoya, and secondarily to see if they can learn anything to apply to their small investment in Freedom (see my previous posting). The Soviets gain some badly-needed hard currency. In 2000, the U.S. may well be selling Freedom modules to Japan for $30 million, to obtain badly needed hard currency. Come to think of it, we have some old Saturns sitting around, maybe they would buy those. Reduce the trade deficit a bit. Too bad about Skylab and Challenger. They might have brought in a few thousandths of a billion. 1/2 :-) ******** These opinions are not related to Big Blue's ********* -- --------------------------- Nick Szabo szabonj@ibmpa.tcspa.ibm.com uunet!ibmsupt!szabonj
lfa@VIELLE.CRAY.COM (Lou Adornato) (12/18/89)
in SPACE Digest V10 #349 Jim Barnes (barnes@Xylogics.COM) writes: >In article <31536@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> cdaf@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Charles Daffinger) writes: >> >>o Date: 13 Dec 89 16:08:45 GMT >>o >>o TOKYO -- A Japanese firm has bought Moscow's only surplus Mir space >>o station and an experimental science module for $10 million to help >>o promote Japan's space industry, the company's president said Wednesday. >> >>Say what? I figure the price may be off by a few orders of magnitude, >>but what's this really supposed to mean? >Does anyone else see a parallel here with what the Japanese have done >in the electronics and computer industry? Namely, buy the best technology >available and improve it? >Which brings me to another point. If the Russians are willing to build >and sell MIR stations for a reasonable price, what's to prevent (for example) >Hughes and Martin-Marietta from buying one and putting it up with their >own boosters. Or even paying the Russians to launch the station and >then staffing with their own (Hughes and Martin-Marietta, that is) personnel? Well, for one thing, the Russians didn't build that MIR to sell it, and they are probably as well equipped to build another as we are to build another Skylab. That was the backup core for the MIR station, and most experts are absolutely shocked that the Russians would even consider selling it. Some people think that this means that the USSR is getting ready to pull the plug on the MIR project due to the truly dismal state of thier economy. However, there where some articles a while back on the sci.space newsgroup about a study that Livermore did regarding an inflatable space station made from reinforced Kevlar (TM). They claimed that they could have one ready to go up in '95, that they could put it up on a single booster (didn't say what kind of booster, hope it wasn't a Saturn V...), and that it would cost around $40M (that's right, $4.0e7). That's still a price not many companies can swing, but there _are_ companies out there with supercomputer facilities in that range, so I would think that there would be companies (Like maybe 3M) that would/could spend $40M to set up a microgravity materials/pharmeceuticals research and/or production station. The big question is, would Hughes or Marietta, or any of the traditional NASA biggies, want this technology to come to fruition? Fact is, they stand to make a much bigger profit off a $40B space station than from $40M, and I don't think sales volume is going to be a big factor here. I have no doubt that NASA is capable of picking the best design at the best price, but they might not be allowed to, once congress starts getting a whiff of the pork barrel.
pjs@ARISTOTLE-GW.JPL.NASA.GOV (Peter Scott) (12/20/89)
In article <31536@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> cdaf@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Charles Daffinger) writes: > >o Date: 13 Dec 89 16:08:45 GMT >o >o TOKYO -- A Japanese firm has bought Moscow's only surplus Mir space >o station and an experimental science module for $10 million to help >o promote Japan's space industry, the company's president said Wednesday. > >Say what? I figure the price may be off by a few orders of magnitude, >but what's this really supposed to mean? Hold on -- isn't this the MIR that the Soviets took around air shows and the like? I thought it was an engineering mock-up, sort of like the Enterprise shuttle. Certainly not flightworthy. In the AW&ST article about this, it was rather clearer, and there was no mention of any Japanese intention to put any of their purchase into space. This suggests that $10M is a fair price. Anyone got different information? Peter Scott (pjs@grouch.jpl.nasa.gov)