Posted on 07/18/2005 5:37:30 PM PDT by KevinDavis
Two small aerospace companies are developing a 100-kilogram spacecraft to fly to a point where the gravitational pulls of the Earth and Moon balance each other. If NASA approves the second phase of the project, the craft will be launched in 2008 to test an inexpensive, low-energy route to space called the "interplanetary superhighway".
SpaceDev of Poway, California, US, and Andrews Space of Seattle, Washington, US, are developing the tiny spacecraft, called SmallTug. Like the European Space Agency's SMART-1 probe - now in lunar orbit - it would rely on solar-powered electric propulsion, which generates a small, continuous thrust. This highly efficient approach cuts costs dramatically, but takes about a year to reach the Moon on a circuitous, spiral path.
But rather than orbit the Moon, SmallTug will target a point in space called lunar Lagrange-1 (L1). Lagrange points are places where the opposing gravitational pulls of two bodies are in perfect balance. There are five such points around any two bodies, and objects placed at these points "stay put" with respect to the bodies.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientistspace.com ...
SpaceDev got the contract.
Note to self: Invest in SpaceDev....
It's SPDV. Looks like a very long term investment, the price is very slow moving.
How much for the stock???
Nice. Thanks Kevin.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
What no Al Gore joke?
Al Gore can't get off this planet.. It would take a miracle to get his fat ass off this rock...
What are you talking about? He rarely spends a minute here. He is perhaps the most lightly tethered of the whole lot.
However, he maybe a goauld reject....
LINK to Yahoo Finance
I'd like on this ping list please.
Willie Green demands they spend their money building 'Interplanetary Light Rail' instead.
"There are five such points around any two bodies, and objects placed at these points "stay put" with respect to the bodies."
Dibs on the first Ho-Jo's francise at Lagrange Point
Is the surface of a planet the best place for an industrial culture?
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