Cellular Companies Make NASA Look Frugal

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I’m sure everyone has heard the stories about $350 toilet seats, $600 hammers, and many other instances that prove the US government has no concept of the word frugal or “getting your moneys worth” (NASA was one of the worst offenders).  Apparently neither has your cellular carrier.  Cellular News has an article comparing the cost of sending an SMS to a friend versus the cost of sending pictures back from the Hubble Space Telescope.  Without knowing any better you would think there is no comparison, the Hubble transmission must be orders of magnitude higher than sending an SMS, and I would agree.  Well, we are both wrong… by more than an order of magnitude.  Hit the jump for the breakdown. 

According to the article, which nicely breaks down the costs pretty fairly, although in British Pounds instead of American Dollars (1 British pound = 1.9291 U.S. dollars).  I don’t think it affects the results tremendously but according to his numbers SMS are cheaper in the UK than what you get with the US carriers. 

According to Dr. Nigel Bannister, SMS run 5p each, that’s £374.49 per MB.  Whereas data coming from the Hubble costs £8.85 to get each MB from Hubble, to the first point of contact on the ground.  When you figure in the ground costs  he estimated the range was £8.85 to £85 per MB.  Even if the high end of the range is taken that is still over 4x the cost of sending a text message. 

Obviously there is no advertising expenses or profits on the NASA side, and no Board of Directors pushing for higher margins, but seriously if one of the most prolific over-spenders looks thrifty when compared to you there is something just not right going on. 

Anyone else hoping NASA starts using those satellites for SatPhones?

(Cellular-News via Smartphone Thoughts)

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