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Seems to be Congressman John Culberson

Good to see a politician getting involved!

Mars Society Celebrates NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Success - 26 May 2008

The system is designed to take as much as possible from as few voters as possible. Imagine paying for other services on that basis .. "excuse me Sir how much do you earn? ok, that will cost you much much more then"

Poor people in the US pay no taxes at all and even get tax benefits! Half the US population pay less than 3% of the taxes, is that fair? So why has that happened, because the majority have voted for a party that promises them that.

How much of the national wealth only exists because of those 5%? China has 5 times the population of the US, so why isn't it 5 times wealthier?

Just wait till we get the 3D 12 color 360 panorama!

Maybe they'll also get the microphone working.

Polygonal patterns, Vastitas Borealis (PHX/SSI) - imaged 26 May 2008

Icy, Patterned Ground on Mars - 26 May 2008

High rez image

About 90 mins from now.

In response to a question by a newmars participant today at Emily Lakdawalla's live video chat, she confirmed that MRO will attempt to image Phoenix as it descends by parachute. Also MEX will attempt to image the entry fireball. Once on the ground MRO should be able to image the lander within a few days.

spacecraft status: in EDL phase, (TCM #6X canceled)

__Altitude above Mars: 16,000 km and falling
__Distance to Landing: 92,000 km and closing
_Speed relative to Mars: 16,000 km/h and accelerating

local weather conditions: fine, clear sky, temperatures between -73°C and - 33°C

88 minutes to landing

Something like that louis

Definitions vary and so do associations - 'base' often to refers to a military installation. 'Outpost' can also be a military station some distance from the main base. 'Colony' is appropriate because it usually means a remote settlement that has strong links with its origin.

An outpost doesn't necessarily have to be permanent, bases usually are, a colony is setup to be permanent.

Amundsen-Scott base is permanently inhabited, but nobody calls it a colony. McMurdo station has over 1000 people resident including many "civilians" during the summer and over 200 in winter. However it has no permanently resident children, that might be a good test for colony status.

China has other adversaries besides the US, democratic Taiwan and India and potentially Japan and South Korea for example - all of them US allies of varying degree. China is attempting to extend its territory southwards by confronting Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam over the Spratly Islands. If China has to develop everything internally, it will slow them down and they won't be be able to match western power.

Not much news or information about Chang'e - CNSA are not open about their space program at all.

Primary mission is 90 sols. She should last as long as there's enough solar power - as winter approaches the Sun will slip below the horizon into the long winter night and she'll freeze to death inside a layer of CO2 ice. Total expected lifespan is about 160 sols after landing.

Sure, cooperation and trade between free independent democratic states is usually a very good thing. Space technology has direct military uses, and it's not usually a good thing to transfer military technology to your adversaries.

In an ideal world, open transfer and trade of all technologies would definitely be a good thing, but we don't live in an ideal world.

Currently there are eight ESA astronauts, six of them have military backgrounds.