To: international american; Dead Corpse; King Prout
Thanks!
My first step would be to replace the ailing Space Shuttle program with a redesigned shuttle which is quite a bit larger, and uses Gas-Cooled Nuclear Reactors to generate Rocket thrust using ordinary materials like water and carbon dioxide.
This would give single-stage to orbit capability, and would also complete the vision of quick turn-around for the shuttles.
For those concerned about re-entry danger, I would recommend not using aerobraking as the primary re-entry method.
Preserving enough reaction mass to slow the presumably empty shuttle from orbital speed, and float down from space gently, the way Space-ship One, Burt Rutan's shuttlecock flier, did, would be well worth the cost of transporting the extra reaction-mass load.
The reactors would be built to withstand even a fiery re-entry without disintegrating. After all, that was one of the concerns about Mir -- that it wouldn't burn up. We saw, unfortunately, that many pieces of a craft do survive, and they can be designed to do so.
I would prove the technology by putting together a program to land a team of explorers on the moon and returning them to Earth, within five years! (See posts above for methodology.)
(If you don't think that's a cool program, let me tell you about ice!)
34,233 posted on
07/17/2005 1:23:16 PM PDT by
NicknamedBob
(Mighty and enduring? They are but toys of the moment to be overturned by the flicking of a finger.)
To: NicknamedBob
34,244 posted on
07/17/2005 1:45:41 PM PDT by
King Prout
(I'd say I missed ya, but that'd be untrue... I NEVER MISS)
To: NicknamedBob
....
the presumably empty shuttle.... Ummm, ....eh?
34,343 posted on
07/18/2005 2:05:11 PM PDT by
fanfan
(" The liberal party is not corrupt " Prime Minister Paul Martin)
To: NicknamedBob
LOL
Please tell me about ICE! :-)
34,344 posted on
07/18/2005 2:06:33 PM PDT by
fanfan
(" The liberal party is not corrupt " Prime Minister Paul Martin)
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