Posted ^ early this morning. And NOT excerpted. The search ^ is our friend and can help prevent duplicate posts.
Posted on 12/09/2003 6:30:24 PM PST by KevinDavis
Perhaps the pioneer settlers in space communities will live (and even die) in front of a worldwide audience -- the ultimate in commercial reality TV."
-- Sir Martin Rees, British author and cosmologist
Space visionary Freeman Dyson, the acclaimed emeritus professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, recently had a conversation with Robert Zubrin, the world's biggest cheerleader for human missions to Mars.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Posted ^ early this morning. And NOT excerpted. The search ^ is our friend and can help prevent duplicate posts.
But NASA is just a fat, lasy, bloated, ineffecicient bureaucracy with no vision. When it dreams, it dreams in text and files them away forever.
We need private industry.
I am NOT WILLING to wait 10-20yrs for Us to allow the Beaurocracy to "Allow" a Moon or Mars "Mission."
I'm Getting TOO OLD for this!!
The ONLY "Obstruction" to a "Moon--& Mars" Mission is the Spineless Timidity of our "Political Class."
China is "On the Move...", so let's use THEM as a "Motivation" to Reclaim our Space Program.
When Americans get to the Moon--or Mars-- they shouldn't have to "Learn Chinese!!"
A Culture NEEDS a "Goal;" we have ALREADY indicated our Cultural Goal--Willy-NILLY, we are COMMITTED to the Exploration of Space!!
In 100, or 1000 years, our Committment to the Exploration of Space will be our Cultural Identifier.
If we "Fail to follow Through," we will likely be seen as "Frivolous!" If we GO--& FAIL,--we will be seen as "Courageous!"
Besides, the "Run" for the Moon & Mars will be FUN!!--& Those of You who remember the "Run to the Moon" KNOW THIS!!
Right now, we have NO "Noble Purpose"-- except the destruction of Global Terrorism--a VAST, NEGATIVE undertaking.
We NEED a positive goal--a Noble one, beyond the squalid confines of our (& our neighbors') lives--to go BACK to the Moon--& ON to Mars is a Goal Worthy of the Noblest Instincts of our Race.
Let's DO IT!!
Doc
I think Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes were trying to bring new thinking to space flight. Anyway one of the fictional companies in the novel saw that the Space Shuttle SRB's fell into the ocean after use and were pulled out and then shipped all the way to Utah for a total rebuilding. How is that more efficient than building a new one?
They decide the next space vehicle, manned or unmanned, should have really reusable boosters. Ones that would come off and glide down to a spaceplane-type landing on a runway. A booster with wings and a UAV brain, in other words. You would replace the engine and refuel it and its ready to go again, the engine would be rebuilt for a later use.
They alsom notice that the Space Shuttle Main Engine, SSME, is a better (power, efficiency) rocket than the ones in the SRB's and they put the SSME engine on their winged boosters.
Of course there is a story in the book beside what the writer came up with. I just found this idea was something that NASA could have really been doing.
AND... why DID they cancel the CRV?? I still haven't heard the real reason. The thing was passing tests and coming in under budget!
Oh, a CRV (sort of like the one NASA canceled) is used as a space rescue platform in the story. It gets launched with a crew of 3 to rescue 3 people from a crippled ISS.
Other than that the book is not all that interesting =o)
This is a fascinating insight, though he loses it a little later on.
Want to raise a few billion dollars for a space colony? Start lining up investors for the Lunar Olympics!
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