Last Space Shuttle Discovery Launch Today
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From: Lacey, WA
Vehicle: Two Accents, Mini, Miata, Van, Outback, and a ZX-6
Wrench sized items don't require map sharing, they're accurately tracked by radar.
Safety is a huge concern. I mean this IS rocket science after all.
Safety is a huge concern. I mean this IS rocket science after all.
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Joined: Sep 2001
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From: Pflugerville, TX
Vehicle: 2000 Elantra
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From: Red Deer
Vehicle: 2012 mitsubishi eclipse spyder gs, 2001 hyundai tiburon
What bothers me is that they haven't been able to produce a means of propulsion to replace the solid state rockets that have been in use since the Saturn V program, 44 years ago.
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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 12,515
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From: Lacey, WA
Vehicle: Two Accents, Mini, Miata, Van, Outback, and a ZX-6
There are some great new propulsion systems which work in space, but they're too weak to actually launch a vehicle they're only useful once already in orbit.
The biggest problem is that it takes a huge amount of energy to get into orbit from Earth. No matter what, that amount of energy will cost quite a bit.
Sure, there is potential for gravity canceling devices which would make it easy and inexpensive, but assuming that's even possible we are a long ways from anything that revolutionary. The easiest way to lower launch costs is to limit launches from Earth while increasing space exploration. How? Have people living in space. I'm not talking about the ISS or other low Earth orbit space stations, I'm talking large Lagrangian point space stations and asteroid/Mars/Moon bases. Asteroids make the most sense from a raw materials point of view, many of the materials which are difficult to mine on Earth are basically floating around in large nuggets just waiting to be fed into an automated machine and refined. A lot of materials extremely rare (and very expensive) on Earth can be gathered and jettisoned down to the planet to fund the exploration and make the people leading this charge extremely rich.
I would live on a Martian or Moon base. I know there are other people like me. Even if it meant I never got to come back to Earth I would go.
The biggest problem is that it takes a huge amount of energy to get into orbit from Earth. No matter what, that amount of energy will cost quite a bit.
Sure, there is potential for gravity canceling devices which would make it easy and inexpensive, but assuming that's even possible we are a long ways from anything that revolutionary. The easiest way to lower launch costs is to limit launches from Earth while increasing space exploration. How? Have people living in space. I'm not talking about the ISS or other low Earth orbit space stations, I'm talking large Lagrangian point space stations and asteroid/Mars/Moon bases. Asteroids make the most sense from a raw materials point of view, many of the materials which are difficult to mine on Earth are basically floating around in large nuggets just waiting to be fed into an automated machine and refined. A lot of materials extremely rare (and very expensive) on Earth can be gathered and jettisoned down to the planet to fund the exploration and make the people leading this charge extremely rich.
I would live on a Martian or Moon base. I know there are other people like me. Even if it meant I never got to come back to Earth I would go.
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Joined: Sep 2001
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From: Pflugerville, TX
Vehicle: 2000 Elantra
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From: Huntsville, AL
Vehicle: 2001/Hyundai/Tiburon
Wall-E?????
As much space junk as out there, it's actually sooooo little compared with the vastness of space. There's so many different altitudes, directions, and speeds that things travel, even with the large quantity of debris, collisions are still very rare. That being said, I think it's good to catch these things early. Just going to be very hard to get govt funding for it, if that's what they're after.
