Mars Science Laboratory

[peter grimes]

I think you're vastly underestimating the cost of a new aircraft carrier.

 

[wilycoyote]

Wiki says a Nimitz is $4.5 billion.

 

[Cutlass]

The price goes up rapidly when you add the aircraft and operations.

 

[peter grimes]

Wiki says a Nimitz is $4.5 billion.

Indeed it does. It also reports that there are no plans on purchasing any more of that class - they're stepping up to the Gerald R. Ford class:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimitz-class_aircraft_carrier#Future

Nimitz-class carriers were designed to have a 50-year service life.[80] At the end of the service life, ships will be decommissioned. This process will first take place on Nimitz and is estimated to cost from $750 to $900 million.
[snip]
A new class of carriers, the Gerald R. Ford class, is being constructed to replace previous vessels after decommissioning. Ten of these are expected, and the first will enter service in 2015 to replace USS Enterprise. The rest of these new carriers are to replace the oldest Nimitz ships as they reach the end of their service life.[82] The new carriers will have a similar design to Bush (using an almost identical hull shape) but will also have further technological and structural improvements.[83]

Interesting - the legacy cost of decommissioning one of these things is more than 1/3rd the cost of a MSL-level mission!

And here's some info on the GRF class, which are the ones the USA is actually planning on spending new money on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_R._Ford_class_aircraft_carrier

In 2005, it was estimated to cost at least $8 billion excluding the $5 billion spent on research and development (though that was not expected to be representative of the cost of future members of the class).[9] A 2009 report said that the Ford would cost $14 billion including research and development, and the actual cost of the carrier itself would be $9 billion.[12]
A total of three carriers have been authorized for construction

$2,500,000,000 is a quaint and outdated estimate for the cost of an aircraft carrier.

Now it's not impossible to make the argument that a significant fraction of the $14B pays the salaries of employees of defense contractors - Welders, Naval Architects, Electrical Engineers, Plumbers, Painters, etc. I'm very sympathetic to that reasoning. But it fails on one key point: those exact skills are directly transferrable to non-war-machine industries. The shipyards at Newport News can build all sorts of steel-hulled panamax ships. The radar systems contractors can work on next-gen systems for commercial craft.

 

[illram]

Question: they want to go to Gale Crater to look for signs of water, because it is a low elevation. That means they think Gale Crater was created before water was present and it flowed into it right? How would they know that? And if it was covered in an ocean or a lake though, wouldn't that eventually erode it out of existence, like on Earth?

 

[emzie]

Question: they want to go to Gale Crater to look for signs of water, because it is a low elevation. That means they think Gale Crater was created before water was present and it flowed into it right? How would they know that? And if it was covered in an ocean or a lake though, wouldn't that eventually erode it out of existence, like on Earth?

I think it's more that the crater is so old (over 3 billion years?) that it'll show many strata as curiosity climbs up the crater.

I don't think anyone doubts water is on mars.

 

[uppi]

Now it's not impossible to make the argument that a significant fraction of the $14B pays the salaries of employees of defense contractors - Welders, Naval Architects, Electrical Engineers, Plumbers, Painters, etc.

Conversely one could as easily make the argument that the $2.5B also pay the salaries of a lot of scientists, engineers, mechanics and other people.

 

[peter grimes]

Indeed. Someone associated with the mission was asked about the cost and he replied that it's not as if we take 2.5B 1 dollar bills and send them to mars. The money is spent here on earth, most of it here in the USA. The Canadians did the robotic arm, I've heard. I'm sure there was more international assistance

 

[GoodGame]

Indeed. Someone associated with the mission was asked about the cost and he replied that it's not as if we take 2.5B 1 dollar bills and send them to mars. The money is spent here on earth, most of it here in the USA. The Canadians did the robotic arm, I've heard. I'm sure there was more international assistance

LOL, good point. It is effectively a stimulus of sorts, and any budgetary money spent on research that is not defense-related is a blessing.