stmx3 wrote:
Hop David wrote:



Rand Simberg wrote:

I have some more commentary on the Gehman report, and why we should
not build "the" next generation launch system.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,95930,00.html


At the end of this essay Rand writes:

"We want, and need, a space transport industry, and it will never
occur as long as NASA remains in charge of developing manned launch
systems.



I've seen vague speculation on a space tourism industry. But is this
the killer app that will capture public imagination? It's hard to
image Joe Taxpayer writing his congressmen to give incentives to
Carmack, Boeing or whoever to establish LEO resorts.



Find a solid gold asteroid...then you'll have the killer app. Space
transportation would leap a century into the future.

I understand there are asteroids rich in metals, metals not bound up in
oxygen, sulfur etc. like the ores we can get at at the top of earth's crust.

Wouldn't delta V expense make even a solid gold asteroid unprofitable?


Hop
http://clowder.net/hop/index.html