The Government has offered Australia's three mobile operators, and vividwireless, renewal of their existing spectrum allocated on 15 year licences in the late 90s and early 2000s at set prices, while the Government expects to rake in $3 billion.
One such Mars mission is called ExoMars. It is a robotic mission to the planet Mars that involves an orbiter that will eject a descent module. The module will and on the planet's surface so that a rover can explore Mars.
The rover will be equipped with a drill, which can descend under the Martian surface for about 6.6 feet (2 meters). With a cost that has been doubled over previous cost estimates, the ExoMars spacecraft is scheduled to be launched in 2016.
Its cost now stands at 1 billion euros for the ESA contribution. Another 200 million euros is expected to be contributed by the United Sates or Russia, although neither country has agreed to this amount, as of this date.
As with any government project, the benefits to people on Earth is paramount for continuing public support. In addition, people are much more apt to support (and to continue to support) such projects when its cost are kept under control and the goals of the project are successfully completed.
For instance, the U.S. space shuttle program (officially called the Space Transportation System (STS)) was not a very strongly supported U.S. space program with regards to its citizens because its cost were well above its initial estimates and the major stated goals of the program were never completely met.
Specifically, NASA stated that its space shuttle fleet would be developed into a low-cost way to transport humans, cargo, and spacecraft into space. That goal was never realized.
In addition, the U.S. shuttles were intended to last for 100 missions each before being retired. That goal also will not be reached. The space shuttle Discovery should end up with the most missions. However, it will have less then forty missions to its credit upon its retirement.
The ESA can learn much from such problems and, hopefully, learn to control costs and manage huge projects under efficient and productive means.
David Bass
| ComOps, a leading Australian provider of business software products and services, has won a competitive tender to deploy its Salvus safety, r…
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