Author Topic: British Space Agency / UKSA updates thread (Read 515449 times)

Avron · « **Reply #40 on:** 10/05/2005 03:23 am »

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kraisee - 2/10/2005 4:17 PM

By allying ourselves with NASA, we could become *the* foremost supplier of critical modules in a few key fields. That way we would get to be on the cutting edge of this exploration program without having to foot the entire massive bill ourselves.

Seems to work well for Canada.. an arm here and there, we have had a few Canadian's in space.. then again, if you folks in the UK, develop you own shuttle, we have some arms going cheap in 2010..

kraisee · « **Reply #41 on:** 10/05/2005 03:37 am »

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FransonUK - 4/10/2005 6:01 PM

Tory boy for sure!

So while this is a fun thread, there's very little chance the UK will be open to this idea?

I think that if the government and private industry got together and decided to build something "important" and "interesting" to support the US-led Vision for Space Exploration (US-VSE), and if they could present it to the UK public in some 'sexy' way, I think the UK population would be likely to rally behind such a (medium scale) national project.

I don't think the UK population would fly for the idea of spending lots of tax-payers money on our own entire space program infrastructure though - not unless there were a guaranteed major financial payoff for the nation from doing it, (or a way to stick it to the French! [only a joke!]).

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #42 on:** 10/18/2005 10:03 pm »

Interesting!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4351688.stm

realtime · « **Reply #43 on:** 10/19/2005 03:14 am »

So why has the UK government been so opposed to human spaceflight for so long?

FransonUK · « **Reply #44 on:** 10/19/2005 10:53 am »

Excellent idea. I have no idea why there is a ban!

SimonShuttle · « **Reply #45 on:** 10/19/2005 11:39 am »

Sounds to me like Thatcher didn't want any more money going to ESA for the astronaut corp. She really didn't want to spend anything on space. Still raises the question, why the hell are we giving any money to ESA as it is. We could really make an effort to do something of our own and build on it.

JamesSpaceFlight · « **Reply #46 on:** 10/19/2005 12:07 pm »

Thatcher killed any space aspirations for sure, although I have no idea why there is a ban!

FransonUK · « **Reply #47 on:** 10/19/2005 05:52 pm »

I'm sure just a token move like removing the ban would set up some momentum.

Avron · « **Reply #48 on:** 10/20/2005 04:09 am »

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FransonUK - 19/10/2005 1:52 PM

I'm sure just a token move like removing the ban would set up some momentum.

Ok... so you folks in the UK going to do some serious lobbing for a manned (person) space program?

If so, I will do my part.. .(very small part) to get my Gov to buy into the UK program.. NASA, will still be analyzing some issue or another... so no damage done there...

FransonUK · « **Reply #49 on:** 10/20/2005 02:23 pm »

There is no point though as Governments do what they want.

PMN1 · « **Reply #50 on:** 10/20/2005 03:52 pm »

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JamesSpaceFlight - 19/10/2005 7:07 AM

Thatcher killed any space aspirations for sure, although I have no idea why there is a ban!

IIRC the then chancellor Kenneth Clark is supposed to have said that no British taxpayers money was going to be spent on geting jonney foreigner into space....strange when you think of him previous support for Europe (before the leadership contest).

SimonShuttle · « **Reply #51 on:** 10/20/2005 03:56 pm »

Well he fell at the first hurdel in the leadership competition for being pro-Europe and anti-war. So that's the last we'll hear from him.

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #52 on:** 10/20/2005 03:58 pm »

I wonder if all the space sites with UK visitors could set up a single place for an on-line petition (as such) to note support for some move towards removing the ban and exploring potential avenues for our own space program to be looked into?

Names of voters usually work. At least it would be better than doing nothing.

I'll have a word with Nacnud as he's pretty much the top UK guy on space issues like this.

FransonUK · « **Reply #53 on:** 10/20/2005 04:20 pm »

So long as it's got nothing to do with wasting more millions with ESA.

JamesSpaceFlight · « **Reply #54 on:** 10/20/2005 04:26 pm »

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FransonUK - 20/10/2005 11:20 AM

So long as it's got nothing to do with wasting more millions with ESA.

The biggest mistake we've ever made was getting involved with ESA. The Tory government killed the British Space Program and set up a "keep France and Brussels happy" ESA funding legistation that has done absolutely nothing for our own ambitions.

tesh90 · « **Reply #55 on:** 10/20/2005 05:37 pm »

I don't think the general public in the UK are at all interested in space flight. I get the impression that on the whole they are only interested in their petty little lives and squables. There seems to be a real lack of endevour and "reaching for the sky" mentality. It's a shame really.

FransonUK · « **Reply #56 on:** 10/20/2005 06:01 pm »

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tesh90 - 20/10/2005 12:37 PM

I don't think the general public in the UK are at all interested in space flight. I get the impression that on the whole they are only interested in their petty little lives and squables. There seems to be a real lack of endevour and "reaching for the sky" mentality. It's a shame really.

They? Where are you from?

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #57 on:** 10/20/2005 06:18 pm »

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tesh90 - 20/10/2005 6:37 PM

I don't think the general public in the UK are at all interested in space flight. I get the impression that on the whole they are only interested in their petty little lives and squables. There seems to be a real lack of endevour and "reaching for the sky" mentality. It's a shame really.

The General UK public were interested enough for all the major channels to cover the launch and landing of STS-114 live on all the major channels, with it being the top story on the news four time during STS-114.

I don't know what the coverage is like in Daly City, CA (where you IP address locates to) but I think you need to do a little bit more research into the UK before spouting off that we're only interested in our "petty little lives" and "squables" because your insult only makes you look stupid due to the inaccuracy of it.

Matty Picard · « **Reply #58 on:** 10/20/2005 06:30 pm »

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tesh90 - 20/10/2005 12:37 PM

I don't think the general public in the UK are at all interested in space flight. I get the impression that on the whole they are only interested in their petty little lives and squables. There seems to be a real lack of endevour and "reaching for the sky" mentality. It's a shame really.

I get Sky News and BBC News on cable and they had more coverage of the Shuttle launch than the US networks, seriously.

tesh90 · « **Reply #59 on:** 10/20/2005 07:26 pm »

Maybe I should rephrase what I said earlier. I don't think that there is a will to fund (with substantial financial backing) space related activities. There are pleanty of other areas of interest (NHS, funding wars, whose top of the premiership, etc) that are higher on the list of priorities for the general public in the UK. By "petty" I meant ours/everyones daily lives and the drudgery involved therein.

p.s. I don't work in "Daly Shity" (sorry for those who do) FYI