Tangled Metal wrote: ↑24 Jul 2021, 6:12pm
....
So you think the tech advances of even the purely tourism based enterprises won't reach in to benefit us all? ....
I'm sure they will, for a cost to maximise the profit for the corporate shareholders. Whereas the same invented by NASA is in the public domain free for all to use. Can you see Branson inventing something really useful giving it for free to everybody?
Tangled Metal wrote: ↑24 Jul 2021, 6:12pm
....
So you think the tech advances of even the purely tourism based enterprises won't reach in to benefit us all? ....
I'm sure they will, for a cost to maximise the profit for the corporate shareholders. Whereas the same invented by NASA is in the public domain free for all to use. Can you see Branson inventing something really useful giving it for free to everybody?
Ian
A) NASA contracts out much of its work, and developments made are commercially exploited, not just released
B) patents etc are limited in time specifically to allow for incentive for development, whilst still releasing technology into the public domain
I have no problem with such developments being used for profit to cover the cost of the R&D which has led to them (and that must include dead end R&D as well)
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way.No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse. There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
Wasn't velcro a space agency invention? After a few years of patent protection it's now being made and sold by many companies as hook and loop tape or closure. The name velcro is a registered trade mark still.
Indeed now there's been advances on the original velcro where the hooks are smaller and less rough such that it hooks onto itself without needing the separate hook and loop sides. So much nicer to use.
I stand corrected. Given duff info years ago. Was memory foam created for space application or is that wrong too?
The other inventions I recall, could be wrong after my velcro duff info, include: solar cells, freeze dried food, smoke detectors that can be made to not give false alarms, air purifiers, exercise machines and I think a type of insulation used in certain construction applications. I'm sure there's more?
My point being solutions invented for specific problems in space applications have proven useful for the general public. It's the same as inventions developed in wartime becoming useful for civilian use too.
It seems hard to find out space inventions from Russia. All the ones i know about and found are from NASA. I simply can't believe that the first nation with animals and humans into space and who were at one time far in advance if Western nations in space development didn't have as many good inventions for civilian use too.
Tangled Metal wrote: ↑26 Jul 2021, 11:20pm
It seems hard to find out space inventions from Russia. All the ones i know about and found are from NASA. I simply can't believe that the first nation with animals and humans into space and who were at one time far in advance if Western nations in space development didn't have as many good inventions for civilian use too.
There's the good old myth about NASA spending millions to develop a pen that could write in space whilst Soviet cosmonauts used pencils.
There were good reasons not to use pencils of course...
Tangled Metal wrote: ↑26 Jul 2021, 11:20pm
It seems hard to find out space inventions from Russia. All the ones i know about and found are from NASA. I simply can't believe that the first nation with animals and humans into space and who were at one time far in advance if Western nations in space development didn't have as many good inventions for civilian use too.
They were never far ahead... and they stopped well before the US did.
Their rocket engines are still amongst the best ever flown (well, up until the raptor anyway)*
* Yes there are various other engines with specific requirements (e.g. the RS25 which is a marvel of compromise engineering).
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way.No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse. There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.