Posted on 03/02/2025 12:35:37 PM PST by ransomnote
I also read it. It depends on what you wish to accomplish. The ISS,was economical, but did very little and you couldn’t live there without severe long-term health hazards.
The O’Neill habitat was designed to actually live and thrive permanently in Earth orbit. It’s like comparing a pup tent with Mara Lago on military steroids. It would allow us to figure out how to get further into our own solar system and perhaps even plan generational ships to another (in time).
We’re gonna have to agree to disagree on this one.
Thanks for posting till I get the chance to listen myself
Such a claim would be grandiose were it not for the fact that it’s true - Elon Musk buying Twitter probably changed the course of history.
perhaps all the libtards need to build colonies on Mars
That’s the best idea this century!
It always kills me when people are discussing ways to bring things put up there back down. Since it’s so expensive to get stuff UP there, the “disposal method” should be cheap, reusable or ion/scavenged material driven propulsion units that will push the stuff to higher orbit, like a geostationary or Lagrange point junkyard, or push it to the moon to an area most likely to be amenable to building a base there.
They want to accelerate the decommissioning of the ISS now, and precisely due to the fact that it’s got a bunch of components wearing out, suffering cracks, etc it is THE best laboratory for people to get field experience dealing with failure in space. It’s not going to be an enjoyable experience to try to deal with an ad hoc repair or failure half way to Mars or during return...
This was (and is still) not just a criminal enterprise.
It is a treasonous enterprise of Demonicrats, who need to be brought to Justice through trials, convictions and sentencing.
I agree. The ISS was planned obsolescence. The O’Neill habitat is designed as a Lagrange point station and would generate its own gravity, food, air, etc. It would be permanent and a way point for most demons to the moon, asteroids, Mars and beyond.
THANK YOU!
Your analogy with Mar-a-Largo is more apt than you may realize. It was built by the fabulously wealthy breakfast cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and deeded to the US government in her will. Eventually, tiring of the costly upkeep, the US government put it up for sale, half expecting that the deteriorating pile would be torn down and something new built in its place.
Then Donald Trump swooped in, buying Mar-a-Largo with an improbable plan to restore it to glory and make it an upscale club. Many thought Trump would lose badly, but he made it work quite well. As always, having a viable business plan matters as much as having a vision.
If there is a way to make the first O'Neill space cylinder pay, it would be as a combination space service station and fantastic orbital cruise ship of sorts. The business case though first requires enough manned lunar and planetary traffic to require a service station in space and enough affordable manned launch capacity to make visits and residence there plausible in economic terms.
I think that we are at least four or five decades and a lot of technology development away from that, with practical fusion power required. And when we finally build an O'Neill cylinder, there will already be permanent human settlements on the Moon and Mars that generate lots of space traffic.
What then emerges may be more like the industrial grittiness and scheming of The Expanse than a shining, utopian city in a spinning tube in space.
Mining the asteroid belt and establishing factories in space as well as collecting endless solar energy would pay for this.
All of this has been written about for many years. The papers are out there.
Thank You for doing this and Elon for doing the task of cleaning up the .gov fraud.
“Musk wants to go to Mars. O’Neill wanted to build an orbiting space cylinder. Why not do both?... An O’Neill cylinder (also called an O’Neill colony, or Island Three) is a space settlement concept proposed by American physicist Gerard K. O’Neill... [that] would consist of two counter-rotating cylinders... [and] provide artificial gravity.”
I like the idea of pursuing both, but both will have enormous challenges. And permanent off-earth colonies will probably require new energy sources and forms of propulsion.
The artificial gravity created by rotating a ship or other manmade dwelling is not the same as gravity because the acceleration is not linear which causes the Coriolis effect. It is impossible to say how this may affect living things in the long run. People, animals, and plants may not be able to adapt to it long-term any more than the rough conditions of Mars.
Your remarks are cogent. But that is the only way to get off planet. I agree with Musk and Heinlein. The Earth is fragile and unless we learn how to get to and live elsewhere, we are doomed. It won’t be easy, but anything worth having never is.
Your position is unsurprising since “Whatever Works” is the ultimate pragmatic pseudonym.
And I agree. Both approaches are worth the effort.
I chose it because I am an engineer(retired). I’ve had many jobs, careers (also an educator) and many obstacles (family and health). I’ve learned to persevere and everything happens for a reason. God is good.
Life is what you make it. 😊
Never listen to one of these before. Both of these guys are really good in this format.
We’re generally not troubled by galactic cosmic rays (CR) here on Terra Firma.
It’s when you emerge out from the protection provided by Earth’s magnetic field when the real trouble with cosmic rays starts.
Talk about energetic—CRs are brutal, unrelenting, and, so far, and for all practical purposes—unstoppable. Collectively, they are the implacable enemy of biological life. Shielding them? How much lead do you think it will take, if lead will even do the trick? This is going to take a scientific miracle.
It is going to require a totally new artificial metamaterial created at the molecular level (nanotechnology).
Lead is way too heavy.
Since the material does not exist I cannot characterize it further at this point.
So have the stranded astronauts been rescued yet?
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