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Thread: orbit@home: News...it's not good.

  1. #1
    Diamond Member
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    orbit@home: News...it's not good.

    http://orbit.psi.edu/oah/forum_thread.php?id=484#6883

    During the last few months, we have started to test the near-Earth asteroid search strategy, and results look promising even if it's still too early to say anything that is statistically relevant.

    The plan was to keep orbit@home running at the same time, and keep the WUs flowing to expand the set of observations used. We acquired and installed new storage, but we were not able to secure enough time and funding to do everything. Our old, 3-year grant has been spent completely. A new proposal to NASA was submitted last year to a program that just announced that will not be able to provide any funding to any proposed project because of shortage of funding at an higher level. This is shocking, as it is almost never the case that a program is not able to fund any new project. Without any dedicated funding, it is difficult to even keep the project running at a basic level, as at least a few hours of daily maintenance are necessary.

    So where do we stand now?

    Funding: we are committed to apply to relevant programs to secure funding to the orbit@home project. This process takes at least six more months, possibly a lot longer, but is the most viable way to support the project.

    Coding continues slowly. The new run, when ready, will require some significant code changes, so we do what we can now, and as soon as we receive new funding, we should be able to start new WUs within a couple months.

    Until then, all should stay pretty much as it is now, in a dormant state: no new WUs, website up but idle. But be assured that orbit@home is not dead or neglected, and I will do all I can to make it succeed. And yes, I do read every post on the forum and every personal message, but I'm not likely to write any message until there is something new to say.

    I do appreciate all the users hanging around and caring for the project, and look forward to sending out good news and fresh WUs.

    Pasquale

    PS: for more info on what else kept me busy during the last year, look at my home page: http://orbit.psi.edu/~tricaric/
    "Don't confront me with my failures, I had not forgotten them" - Jackson Browne

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  2. #2
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    Re: orbit@home: News...it's not good.

    Bad news. One of my favorite projects. I wonder if they are taking donations? It saved Dnetc.



  3. #3
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    Re: orbit@home: News...it's not good.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mike029 View Post
    Bad news. One of my favorite projects. I wonder if they are taking donations? It saved Dnetc.
    This is one of the more important projects we crunch for that actually has an impact on the entire world. Surely global societies can see this as necessary and keep it going


  4. #4
    Zytozux
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    Re: orbit@home: News...it's not good.

    Yeah i thought NASA already had something searching for the Near Earth Asteroids. But all i could find was http://neat.jpl.nasa.gov/ and the latest update is from 2004. Can't find anything that says it has closed either though. It would be nice to know that something is running throughout 2012 though.

    Edit: How could i miss the second sentence in wikipedia? "The NEAT project began in December 1995 and ran until April 2007.[1]".
    Last edited by Zytozux; 02-24-11 at 10:55 PM.

  5. #5
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    Re: orbit@home: News...it's not good.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mike029 View Post
    Bad news. One of my favorite projects. I wonder if they are taking donations? It saved Dnetc.
    I would guess that donations couldn't save that. DNETC needed a few hundred to pay for costs. Orbit, based on that grant info, needs several dozen thousand (at a BARE minimum) to get going...

  6. #6
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    Re: orbit@home: News...it's not good.

    Government is too busy bailing out companies with incompetent/overpaid management.
    6r39 7r199



  7. #7
    Steve Bohlen
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    Re: orbit@home: News...it's not good.

    This is why we need Orbit to come back online in full force!

    http://www.skyandtelescope.com/commu...124430479.html

    There could be a bigger one out there headed our way.

  8. #8
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    Re: orbit@home: News...it's not good.

    Don't get me started on all the worthless crap the Gov. has funded in the past year to the tune of TRILLIONS, that they couldn't have spared say $50K for this project? Just insane.

  9. #9
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    Re: orbit@home: News...it's not good.

    Quote Originally Posted by DrPop View Post
    Don't get me started on all the worthless crap the Gov. has funded in the past year to the tune of TRILLIONS, that they couldn't have spared say $50K for this project? Just insane.
    Too busy giving billions to our enemies.
    6r39 7r199



  10. #10
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    Re: orbit@home: News...it's not good.

    Quote Originally Posted by trigggl View Post
    Too busy giving billions to our enemies.
    LOL! The latest one I couldn't believe was a news headline reading, "Obama offers GREECE Bailout funds"...I was like "WHAT? How's he plan to do that? And with WHO'S MONEY???"

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