[Cincinatus' Wife]

Good points. Many countries are asking to be included in our missile defense shield.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

People totally forget the role of the ground stations. They actually have all the power. If a station chooses not to relay its data to JPL, then JPL is in the dark until the next station handover. That's an extreme case of course, and the only cases where ground stations have been "down" is through extreme equipment failure, but those don't last very long.