Posted on 03/13/2021 1:20:16 PM PST by BenLurkin
The massive space telescope, featuring a 21 foot mirror, and a tennis court-sized protective cage, is far too large to stick inside a plane.
Instead, NASA will have to ship the massive mirror right through the Panama Canal for its eventual launch in French Guiana — and NASA is worried that the journey could attract robbers.
The shipping time and location will be hush-hush to ward off any extremely ambitious thieves. All we know is that it will sail off in late summer.
It’s an especially harrowing sea passage for a project that has been going on for over two decades. NASA has poured almost $10 billion into the project over that time period.
Surprisingly, it wouldn’t be the first heist of its kind. In 1984, a steel structure for the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope was kidnapped by its cargo vessel’s commercial captain, ,,,
(Excerpt) Read more at futurism.com ...
ping
It will, now that they’ve told the whole world about it.
How do you fence such a thing? Can’t imagine a Craigslist ad. Maybe the CCP would be interested.
Oh lets play the kids game....
I sent a telescope out in space upon a big fat rocket
Someone must have picked it up and put it in his pocket
Was it you ???
:)
My first thought is that someone at NASA has arranged to sell this to China. The guy at NASA pockets $20M and passes along all of the necessary information. And then -— whoops! — pirates show up and steal that telescope. Oh noes! What a shame!
Hold it for ransom
Another extremely poor piece of journalism. No attempt to answer the obvious questions:
1) The United States and NASA have several launch facilities inside the continental United States. Why is NASA incurring the time, expense and risk of launching it halfway around the planet?
2) If it must be launched from the chosen location, is the US Navy so stretched it can’t send a destroyer to follow the cargo ship? Alternatively, has anyone considered sending some US Marines on the ship to guard the cargo and repel any attempt to hijack the ship and the cargo? After all, isn’t the purpose of the military to defend the nation and its assets?
3) Don’t we now have a military branch, the US Space Force, specifically charged with defending US space assets? Why isn’t it responsible for the security of the telescope before and after it is launched?
I hope all of these questions have been considered by NASA. If not we definitely have a major problem of competence which is another story in and of itself.
Sadly serious journalism died long ago. It seems the mission of journalism today isn’t to inform. Its only purpose seems to be eliciting an emotional reaction from readers - rage, anger, or disgust. Clearly the education system is also failing because the public seems delighted with the garbage it is being fed by the media.
I’m sorry, but isn’t NASA a branch of the U.S. Government? Doesn’t the U.S. government have seaborne assets that can easily thwart the most heavily-armed of ‘pirates’?
All good questions. Get back to us when you have the answers.
If they are worried, just put a platoon of armed Marines aboard. Problem solved.
Never in a million years would I have thought this thread would have anyone brining up race.
Hold it for ransom and threaten to destroy it.
As if after 20 years and billions of dollars it will not have a USN naval escort with a lot of coast guard and marines around for the entire trip.
Alien pirates? Do they realize that so few humans on Earth out of billions can actually go into space to grab a satellite telescope?
Isn’t this why have Marines?
And Destroyers?
And Space Lasers?
Mercenary Aliens?
Uh, don’t we still have a navy?
Arrrr they now?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.