lawyer physics (was taxing satellites)

[Trei, Peter]

> ----------
> From: 	Trei, Peter
> Sent: 	Tuesday, July 10, 2001 3:05 PM
> To: 	'Ray Dillinger'
> Cc: 	cypherpunks at cyberpass.net
> Subject: 	RE: lawyer physics (was taxing satellites)
> 
> 
> 
> > ----------
> > From: 	Ray Dillinger[SMTP:bear at sonic.net]
> > Sent: 	Tuesday, July 10, 2001 2:36 PM
> > Cc: 	cypherpunks at cyberpass.net
> > 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" <mlund at moxtek.com>
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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