This reply from NASA to twitter user Jamie DMJ is hilarious and worth a full read. Apparently the user had sent NASA an informal request for money to develop a skyrocket based on the chemical reaction between Coca-Cola
and mentos.
that are well known to trigger an “explosive” reaction when mixed, because the small pores on the candy’s surface catalyze the release of carbon dioxide from the soda, check out the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umv2IqBPFE0
So now you have all the background information needed to check this letter from NASA:
The style of this letter is is somewhat reminiscent of the reply from the White House to a petition to build a “Death Star” ship, like the one in Start Wars by 2016:
This Isn’t the Petition Response You’re Looking For
By Paul Shawcross
The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn’t on the horizon. Here are a few reasons:
- The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000. We’re working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it.
- The Administration does not support blowing up planets.
- Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?
However, look carefully (here’s how) and you’ll notice something already floating in the sky — that’s no Moon, it’s a Space Station! Yes, we already have a giant, football field-sized International Space Station in orbit around the Earth that’s helping us learn how humans can live and thrive in space for long durations. The Space Station has six astronauts — American, Russian, and Canadian — living in it right now, conducting research, learning how to live and work in space over long periods of time, routinely welcoming visiting spacecraft and repairing onboard garbage mashers, etc. We’ve also got two robot science labs — one wielding a laser — roving around Mars, looking at whether life ever existed on the Red Planet.
Read the full White House reply here