space is a desert

Sure is: this is also the reason why the shuttle sucks - money, time, and
effort; and keeps space the deserted realm of the elite.

The shuttle was a great way to keep a small part of the MIC (Military
Industrial Complex) in a sufficient state of tune to enable relative ease of
transition to warfighting, when economic reasons demand

BUT

It (the Shuttle) is abysmally bad for the ultimate expression of Homo
Sapiens only real destiny - the great Diaspora into space.
And if the MIC continues on its merry way, we are gonna need another place
to run to pretty soon...

SO

Imagine that the only returnable part of the shuttle being the crew
quarters - a hypersonic lifting body stunning in its simplicity, with maybe
a couple of turbofans (light ones) for powered flight back to base. Designed
to piggy back onto the fuel tank, but autonomous from it, and able to be
boosted into orbit via other craft. More of a life boat than a command ship,
and able to seperate from the fuel tank like an F111 cockpit if needs be...

Imagine that the other parts of the 'new' shuttle were designed to be thrown
into space AND REUSED.. somewhat like skylab BUT NOT THROWN BACK....EVER. So
that the todays expendables are tomorrows RECYCLABLES...

After all Space is a Desert - the most precious resource in that desert is
ANYTHING

Any stuff up there at all is better than what is already there - NOTHING

(well maybe a few protons and other stuff - anybody know what the net flux
and elemental mix of Solar Wind is?
Can it be utilised as a resource?
not right now?
thought so)

Use the 'Fuel tank' and anything else that is sent up for building, or for
anything - even just as reaction mass for Ion drives.
Use it for anything BUT DON'T WASTE IT, and certainly don't leave it lying
around for someone else to run into.

There should be laws against space littering!

anyway,

Use unspent fuel (must be LOX and Hydrogen) to make water and electricity.
So no matter what cargo the fuel tank is throwing up there, it will always
be lifting the same mass - a mix of crew craft/cargo/fuel tank/fuel that is
always the same mass - the max it can lift! if needs be make up the
difference in fuel.

Use the water to inflate the outer skin (and inner bones) of habitats, maybe
even deep freeze the water - strong stuff when frozen!
Makes a nice window too, and a good insulator...

Meteors are GOOD, because they are STUFF, and stuff is SCARCE... so catch
them!

Use the carbon (and other vital elements) in the recyclables to make sugars
and then plastics and then habitats/food.
Use organics for food, pharmaceuticals and ELECTRONICS too

Spin the habitats/factories/farms up as giant Von Braun wheels, because we
NEED gravity.
(say what are the engineering characteristics of
water/ice/waterglass/aerogel/plastic in space, anyone know?)


WELCOME people to the habitats, either as tourists or as perms... discourage
return to Earth as expensive and uncool...
Set up service industries; space may be the ideal place for call centers...
, gerontology, genetic engineering..
(Is it easier to print organs/organic structures in zero G, anyone know?)

Turn the wheel on its side, apply thrust via ion beam/sail and Roll across
the Desert of the Sky, like giant Conestoga wheels, seeking a manifest
destiny.

And with lots of time to get there...

sigh

Where to put it - initially at a Lagrangean point in front of the Moon
maybe, probably not LEO because LEO is fickle!
We don't want to be spending too much time station keeping.. and we
certainly don't want to be reliant on NASA for keeping us up there!
Plus the Moon could provide much needed resources sent up via popgun...
And the velocity differential Earth L Moon Moon L Earth is what? 50 m/s ?
inexepensive!

Hmmmm... Perhaps in the future such treasures as the Hubble will be placed
near habitats... Perhaps they will be designed to be serviceable like, say a
PC... you know - plug in modules and boards and stuff that could be done by
say, a really dumb robot... or a human in a space suit, or even by itself!
Say, can we make mirrors out of deep frozen ice?, can we wobble and flex
ice electromagnetically (water is polar and static electrically susceptible,
Ice? anyone know?) Can we make GRIN lenses out of ice/water/sugar?

But this would defeat the purpose of the MIC; no profit once the thing is
built eh? Got to keep on building new ones to utter rediculous perfection
(because the expensive part is getting them up there) and throwing the old
ones away cos it keeps the MIC going.
Even when they are some of the most exquisite examples of engineering that
has even been seen.
Or even just consideed as reaction mass...
The hubble would keep a solar powered ION drive fed for quite a while..

What a WASTE!

sigh

Dreaming? yup

Is all of this do-able? with todays technology? yup

Will there be glitches? yup, but there is nothing like being faced with a
technological problem in the immediacy of space to get the creative juices
flowing eh!


will any of this happen - GOD I hope so
In my lifetime, probably not

What a WASTE

bye