[blam]

I couldn't get this to link in the article.

[longshadow]

Vogon Hyper-space by-pass ping!

[Paul Atreides]

Just watch out for The Guild....they'll bleed you dry.

[Just another Joe]

DO NOT PANIC!

[CaptRon]

Now, if they can just find those Alderson points (for all you Niven/Pournelle fans, if any).

[Virginia-American]

From the Libertarian Party's Platform:

We oppose all government restrictions upon voluntary peaceful use of outer space. We condemn all international attempts to prevent or limit private exploration, industrialization, and colonization of the moon, planets, asteroids, satellite orbits, Lagrange libration points, or any other extra-terrestrial resources. We repudiate the principles contained in the U.N. Moon Treaty. We support the privatization of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

[RightWhale]

Orbits can be strange things. There was a geosynch satellite, Hughes if I recall, that didn't make it to its station 22,300 miles up and was in an elliptical orbit topping out at something short of 22,300 and dipping much lower each time around. The mission was lost since there wasn't enough fuel to circularize.

But an orbit consultant found a solution. They sent it even higher and around the moon. On the way back they eased into its correct orbit. Not enough fuel to get to 22,300 miles, but enough to go to the moon and back.

[68 grunt]

http://www.genesismission.org/mission/live_shots.html

[EternalVigilance]

NASA Discovers 'Motorway' Network Between Planets

I hope it's an autobahn... ;-)

[Physicist]

The system was discovered by Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer Martin Lo.

"You take the high road and I'll take the Lo road, and I'll get to Saturn befooooore ye!"

[PhilDragoo]

JPL trajectory expert Martin Lo claims to have developed a technique that would allow the Orbiter, once it brakes itself into orbit around Jupiter, to maneuver itself into orbit around Europa using "gravitational fuzzy boundaries" and "Lagrange effects" -- which have already been used to put Japan's Hiten spacecraft into orbit around the Moon with a very small fuel expenditure, and which Lo claims would so drastically cut the mission's total fuel needs that its dry weight could be increased by about 30 percent.

The Jupiter-Lo method has been dubbed "J-Lo". Its use of "gravitational fuzzy boundaries" has been acclaimed as a pioneering application of fuzzy math, and will short-cut the Middle East peace process and formation of boundaries of the proposed Palestinian state from "billions and billions of eons" to "how will we fill the rest of the time till lunch?"

[Lazamataz]

BE IT HEREBY KNOWN THAT I, LAZAMATAZ, CLAIM AS MY PERSONAL PROPERTY ALL LAGRANGE POINTS IN THIS OR ANY OTHER SOLAR SYSTEM.

For rent: LaGrange Points between planets. Reduce your fuel consumption! Win friends! Have fresher breath!

[scouse]

now we design a new flight path in less than a day.

Except on a Friday when everybody is heading out to Vegas

[SamAdams76]

Just watch out for those speed traps between Neptune and Saturn.

[SunkenCiv]

[five years later]

Alternative Paths To Earth-Moon Transfer
Cristiano Fiorilo de Melo and Othon Cabo
http://www.hindawi.com/GetPDF.aspx?doi=10.1155/MPE/2006/34317

[SunkenCiv]

When I did the web search, I was looking for info on how the Clementine mission was planned; that was the first to use a “chaotic” pathway, and was the trailblazer for the rest of these, unless one counts the “slingshot” methods used by the early outer-solar-system probes.