Bush to announced manned mission to Mars and permanent base on moon

[DanS]

It will be an excellent waypoint in the future.

It will never be a waypoint because of where it stands in low earth orbit. That's a fact.

[PLATO]

Originally posted by DanS


It will never be a waypoint because of where it stands in low earth orbit. That's a fact.

Good point. It would need to be in HEO to be effective as a waypoint. I stand corrected.

[DanS]

OK, so what is this $2 billion per annum white elephant good for, now that we agree it's not going to be a waypoint?

[:) Smiley]

It's a research lab, once we get the lab parts up there.

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by DanS
OK, so what is this $2 billion per annum white elephant good for, now that we agree it's not going to be a waypoint?

Not much -- it was worth a lot more before the accountants chopped it into barely-sustaiable bits.

[JellyBean]

Why bother with iron? Aluminium's quite strong enough to build a spacecraft out of, provided you don't expect it to land somewhere with an atmosphere. If there's ice on the moon then things look even better - with solar power and electrolysis you've got oxygen for life support and hydrogen/oxygen for fuel. Imagine a bunch of reusable launchers operating from the moon, shipping aluminium girders and solar panels to earth orbit, without worrying about atmospheric reentry or a gravity well as deep as the one we're stuck in. After the ruinous initial expense, it ought to be cheaper than lifting the same materials from earth.

If there's no ice, the same effect could be achieved with a linear accelerator running on nothing but solar power, albeit for an even greater investment. Unfortunately, all this depends on a way to refine lunar rock with lightweight apparatus, almost no reagents, and minimal human intervention. I'd say this is the biggest technological stumbling block left.

Despite all this, the devil of pessimism on my other shoulder tells me that Bush doesn't intend to do anything about it - he just wants to provide his electorate with something harmless to think about. Or perhaps he does earnestly believe that space exploration is a worthwhile thing to do, but will forget all about it in a few weeks when one of his advisors distracts him with something shiny.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by PLATO
You sure have been on an anti-American roll here the last few days. More so than normal.

Sorry, I must have felt more countertrollish than usual

[Drake Tungsten]

You mean the Chinese would IMITATE what the Americans did when Sputnik and then Gagarin hit Space first?

Revisionist! Sputnik and Gagarin were just communist propaganda.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
It shouldn't break.

Kitty, if we put a national effort into contruction of a space elevator, I think we could probably get it to work well before a century out. The basic components already exist. We just need to figure out a way to manufacture them in usable lengths. Surely no more than a couple of decades.

The basic components (i.e. carbon nanotubes) are on bleeding edge of workability.

Not a good bet to use them since there's no safety factor at all.

Need something at least twice as load-bearing per unit weight as them.

Probably can be built sometime around 2100. I think materials science is a good place to put some science money for future development.

But don't plan on taking a ride on it before you're very, very old.

[FrostyBoy]

Gotta build that Space Elevator!

[TCO]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse


The basic components (i.e. carbon nanotubes) are on bleeding edge of workability.

No. They are not. Significant real development required to make cables and long fibers. Noone has done it even on a lab scale. Yes they exist chemically. Noone has even characterized their tensile properties in a multifilament macroscopic fiber.

[KrazyHorse]

Pointing out actual individual strength. It's "possible" theoretically, but not really workable. Trying to point that out.

[:) Smiley]

Definitely not here yet, though ya won't have to wait until the 22nd century for it either. Don't any of you have any memory of how long it took for things such as computer networking or genetics to go from theoretical to where they are now?

[:) Smiley]

Just read the paper today, Bush does plan on increasing NASA's budget, something around 5%, and diverting funding from the space shuttle program to the new programs.

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse


The basic components (i.e. carbon nanotubes) are on bleeding edge of workability.

Not a good bet to use them since there's no safety factor at all.

Need something at least twice as load-bearing per unit weight as them.

Probably can be built sometime around 2100. I think materials science is a good place to put some science money for future development.

But don't plan on taking a ride on it before you're very, very old.

I guess we should finish The Longevity Vaccine first.