Thread: Moral Equivalent Of A Space Program
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Old February 18th 06, 11:25 AM posted to sci.space.moderated,sci.space.policy
Alain Fournier
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Default Moral Equivalent Of A Space Program
Gene Cash wrote:

(Henry Spencer) writes:


And a space station, in particular, *wants* to be as heavy as possible
-- that reduces the effect of air drag and hence the frequency of
reboosts.

(The average annual reboost fuel consumption is, to a good first
approximation, unaffected. The reboosts take more fuel each, but
they're less frequent.)


Hm. I think I'd consider fuel budget more important than frequency of
reboosts. I didn't think a reboost was that inconvenient, if you have to
haul up the extra station mass *and* more fuel to keep it in orbit.

I don't think I'm seeing your point, here.

His point is that you don't need more fuel for the reboosts if the
station is heavier. You just need more of it at a time. If you burn
twice as much fuel for a reboost but you do it twice less often
then you burn the same amount of fuel over time. Also he wasn't
suggesting to haul up the extra station mass. You just don't send
trash back to Earth, you pack it up and keep it as dead weight.


Alain Fournier