Europe, Russia discuss 'orbital shipyard' plans

On Thu, 21 May 2009 11:07:17 -0700, BradGuth wrote:

On May 20, 9:40Â*am, wrote:
"Space bigwigs in Russia and Europe are working on ambitious plans for
an international space shipyard in orbit above the Earth, according to
reports. The orbital shipyard would be used to assemble manned
spacecraft capable of travelling to the Moon or Mars."

Source:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05...d_discussions/

The one and only viable location for this "orbital shipyard" is within
the Earth-moon L1 (aka Selene L1), because that's where the most
volumetric tonnage can safely coexist with the least amount of applied
energy.


The additional energy to go to L1 is a big negative to go there. L1 is
closer to the moon than earth, so it is also outside the protection of
the van Allen radiation belts.