> ----------
> From: Trei, Peter
> Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2001 3:05 PM
> To: 'Ray Dillinger'
> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: RE: lawyer physics (was taxing satellites)
>
>
>
> > ----------
> > From: Ray Dillinger[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2001 2:36 PM
> > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Subject: Re: lawyer physics (was taxing satellites)
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, 10 Jul 2001, Dynamite Bob wrote:
> > <quoting someone who is not participating in this discussion>
> > >"The property in question here is geostationary,"
> > >said Larry Hoenig, a San Francisco attorney
> > >representing Hughes Electronics. "Geostationary
> > >satellites sit above the equator in a fixed
> > >position; they do not rotate around the Earth. So
> > >the satellites we're talking about here are not
> > >movable property."
> >
> Actually, there's a curious legal precedent which might
> help the satellite holders. One of the NASA probes (perhaps
> the atmospheric probe to Jupiter? Did we have a Venus probe?)
> had an instrument window made of diamond. The fairly large
> diamond used drew considerable import duty when it was
> brought into the US, but that duty was returned after the
> launch, since the diamond had been 're-exported'. This
> seems to my IANAL logic to set a precedent that an
> asset in space is not in the US.
>
...you can find anything on the net if you choose to look....
This was the Pionner Venus Orbiter, built by Hughes and
launched in 1978.
http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/diamond.txt
-----------------
FROM: "Dr. Mark W. Lund" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
SUBJECT: Re: Who makes big diamond windows?
DATE: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 17:11:44 -0600
ORGANIZATION: MOXTEK, Inc.
NEWSGROUPS: sci.optics
Nelson Wallace wrote:
> "Big" meaning around 1 inch diameter, say 0.1" thick.
> Regards, Nelson Wallace
Wow, you TRW-government-contracting-no-holds-barred-
success-at-any-cost-if-you-have-to-ask-you-can't-afford-it guys have all the
fun.
Hughes Aircraft bought the diamond window on the Venus probe
nephelometer from DeBeers. I remember that it was suggested to
the principle investigator that he could save a lot of money if he
used two smaller windows, but he was worried that they might not
be the same temperature, so he splurged. I also remember that when
the probe landed on Venus the US Customs people refunded the
customs duty, since the diamond had been re-exported.
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