Author: KarinsDad
Date: 13:32:08 06/04/99
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On June 04, 1999 at 15:48:08, James B. Shearer wrote: >On June 03, 1999 at 22:58:26, Robert Hyatt wrote: > > This is absurd, without NASA the computer industry would be just about >where it is now. NASA is notorious for using chips which are far behind the >state of the art. (Actually there are some legitimate reasons for this as space >is a different environment and standard chips are not space rated. On the other >hand NASA moves very slowly compared to the electronics industry as shown for >example by the space shuttle computers which were frozen for many years becoming >more and more obselete. NASA slowly adopts industry innovations not vice >versa.) > James B. Shearer James, I hate to disagree, but you are mistaken about what Robert said. You are correct in your assessment that NASA within the last 15 to 20 years HAS been behind the technological curve. But from the mid-50s to the late 70s, NASA was in front of the curve. There are several factors involved here: 1) NASA had to come up with efficient mechanisms to propel men and material into space. To do that, they had to reduce the weight of what was being sent up AND they had to increase the thrust of the rockets involved. They did this in multiple ways. One of these was micro-electronics. There was a MAJOR thrust by manufacturers in the mid-60s to make electronics smaller in order to assist in resolving the weight problems. Today, there is more of a market for industry innovation, hence, NASA and the US Military are not the only major bidders. In the 60s, this was not the case. Everybody wanted to get on board with NASA and other government contracts. 2) The culture was different in the 60s. There was an enormous push for students to study math and science. In fact, there was a surplus of scientists and mathmeticians in the 70s due to this. When you change the percentages of technically minded students who go into the work force, you by default increase the rate of technical advancement. It is inevitable. 3) The entire US was behind the space program from the early 60s when Kennedy vowed to place a man on the moon by the end of the decade until the mid 70s when moon walks started to become too commonplace for the average American. Because of this, it was easy to push enormous budgets through Congress for NASA. Additionally, the military used this public support to "assist" NASA and increase their own budgets. The more money you spend, the better your chances of technological innovation. Without NASA, we would probably be using about 5-20 Mhz chips right now and liking it. And it is obvious that there would be no global Internet since there would be no communications satellite system. It is extremely difficult to predict how life would be without the space race. However, if you take a step back and just think of the basics of cause and effect, it is easy to see that without the major competition drive of the space race across the entire country (just like without any other competitive drive such as the WCCC), we would not today be as far along as we are. And you can still thank the space race for your ability to play Fritz on your home computer (this is my weak attempt to get this back on topic). KarinsDad :)
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