Fred J. McCall wrote:

(Derek Lyons) wrote:

:Fred J. McCall wrote:
:
:Brian Thorn wrote:
:
::On Thu, 21 May 2009 03:42:56 GMT, "Alan Erskine"
wrote:
::
:: What you really want to do is... (wait for it) ... build a manufacturing
:: plant on Mars. Once on Mars, you can use Martian materials, so you don't
:: have to bring as much mass up.
::
::Or the Moon - nearer to Earth; no atmosphere at all (compared to Mars) and
::half the gravity of Mars. Also the Moon's closer to the Sun, so solar
::energy can be used for smelting materials and industrial processes.
::
::The two-week nights are the killer.
::
:
:Start at the poles.
:
:Where 13 day nights are the killer.
:

I shouldn't have to explain this, Derek, but...

Get an orange. Shine a light on one side. Go to one of the 'poles'.
Draw a line on the orange perpendicular to the 'terminator' passing
through the 'pole'. Stick in a pin just a bit into the light along
that line. Stick another pin on the same line, just into the dark.
Spin the orange along its 'axis'. Observe just how much time all of
BOTH pins are in the dark.

If you did it right, that time is zero...

I shouldn't have to explain this to you Fred - but the moon isn't a
perfectly aligned orange. Nor are we building bases on pins hundreds
of kilometers above the orange's surface.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

http://derekl1963.livejournal.com/

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL