|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
A Moon base is too far; an asteroid ship better alternative:)
Okay shoot me down if you have to but I think that "Ahad" guy had a
neat idea and was on the right track with his "Celestial Titanic" ship: http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagen...arth-ring.html Just look at all these squillions of $$$ benefits: -Save billions of dollars in ferrying up parts from Earth to build the large-scale outer framework -Save thousands of man hours and hundreds of radiation-exposed astronaut spacewalks for station assembly -Asteroid surface offers strong commercial potential for mining precious minerals -Bulk of the project from in-situ excavation, transportation of asteroid to high Earth orbit and some initial mining, performed robotically. Human crews arrive near the end to "seal the entrance" and establish colony -Opportunity to experiment re-creating a "miniature Earth" with gravity, biosphere and self-sustaining ecosystem within a natural, rocky structure much like Earth's own crust -Logistically more attractive for easier access from the ground than either a base on the Moon or one established on Mars -First "truly promising", permanent off-Earth colony potential within decades! -Potentially a full-function transportation vessel for sailing the great interplanetary or even interstellar oceans of space... Why oh why do I want to go all the way to that grey thing, when there's more economical business to be done nearer home with the right rock from outer space? This is a smart idea - was a smart idea... still plain wishful thinking. Bounty |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Bounty wrote: Okay shoot me down if you have to but I think that "Ahad" guy had a neat idea and was on the right track with his "Celestial Titanic" ship: http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagen...arth-ring.html In situ exploitation of asteroid or comet resources have been proposed by science fiction writers and bona fide scientists. For example David Brin (who is an sf writer and has been a planetary scientist) was a co-author of "Heart of the Comet". Giving himself pretentious sounding names (AA Institute of Space Science & Technology) and presenting stuff that's been around for awhile as his own revolutionary ideas doesn't enhance Abdul's credibility. He needs to look at some of the problems. Launch windows to and from any specific asteroid occur much more seldom than Lunar launch windows (although there are asteroids whose windows occur about as frequently as Martian windows). Capturing an asteroid to earth orbit is difficult. There's a substantial amount of delta vee and even a small asteroid can be quite massive. There are varying hazards depending on the capture scheme. And I would guess that no matter how safe the plan, there will be political obstacles. This scheme: http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/0...steroid.eater/ proposes using an asteroid's own material as reaction mass. This could make altering an asteroid's path more doable. But Madmen aren't off-the-shelf technology SFAIK. I like Abdul's enthusiasm. But I wish he'd calm down and make more sober, substantial contributions. -- Hop David http://clowder.net/hop/index.html |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Well if you had a moon base you could go and fetch an asteroid and bring it
to the moon and process it. Plus drilling and mining on the moon may discover all kinds of useful minerals and possibly water. We could do it if we only spent what is spent on cosmetics and cosmetic surgery which is a total waist of money on vanity. "Bounty" wrote in message oups.com... Okay shoot me down if you have to but I think that "Ahad" guy had a neat idea and was on the right track with his "Celestial Titanic" ship: http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagen...arth-ring.html Just look at all these squillions of $$$ benefits: -Save billions of dollars in ferrying up parts from Earth to build the large-scale outer framework -Save thousands of man hours and hundreds of radiation-exposed astronaut spacewalks for station assembly -Asteroid surface offers strong commercial potential for mining precious minerals -Bulk of the project from in-situ excavation, transportation of asteroid to high Earth orbit and some initial mining, performed robotically. Human crews arrive near the end to "seal the entrance" and establish colony -Opportunity to experiment re-creating a "miniature Earth" with gravity, biosphere and self-sustaining ecosystem within a natural, rocky structure much like Earth's own crust -Logistically more attractive for easier access from the ground than either a base on the Moon or one established on Mars -First "truly promising", permanent off-Earth colony potential within decades! -Potentially a full-function transportation vessel for sailing the great interplanetary or even interstellar oceans of space... Why oh why do I want to go all the way to that grey thing, when there's more economical business to be done nearer home with the right rock from outer space? This is a smart idea - was a smart idea... still plain wishful thinking. Bounty |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
In article .com,
"Bounty" wrote: Why oh why do I want to go all the way to that grey thing, when there's more economical business to be done nearer home with the right rock from outer space? This is a smart idea - was a smart idea... still plain wishful thinking. Rocks closer to Earth than the Moon are extremely rare. And when we see one, we call it a "near miss." Now, in terms of delta-V, there are some which are relatively cheap to reach, though those too are pretty rare, and close encounters are even rarer. So you'd be looking at extremely long trip times, unless you have a very big rocket with lots of fuel to waste. The Moon is the natural place to start for offworld development because it is easier to reach than any other place except Earth orbit, pretty much no matter how you look at it. ,------------------------------------------------------------------. | Joseph J. Strout Check out the Mac Web Directory: | | http://www.macwebdir.com | `------------------------------------------------------------------' |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Rodney Kelp wrote:
Well if you had a moon base you could go and fetch an asteroid and bring it to the moon and process it. Why necessairily the Moon? You can't land it, any 'processing' will be on the asteroid itself, so it might as well be a high Earth orbit. And 'go and fetch an asteroid' is easy to say... Plus drilling and mining on the moon may discover all kinds of useful minerals and possibly water. We could do it if we only spent what is spent on cosmetics and cosmetic surgery which is a total waist of money on vanity. And what's wrong with vanity? -- You know what to remove, to reply.... |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Bounty wrote:
Why oh why do I want to go all the way to that grey thing, when there's more economical business to be done nearer home with the right rock from outer space? This is a smart idea - was a smart idea... still plain wishful thinking. All you need to do is get a dinosaur-killer-sized asteroid into orbit closer than the moon without risking it hitting the earth. Funnily enough, I think a lot of people mightn't like that idea. Good luck being allowed to do it even without technical obstacles. I think asteroids in the longer term have a major role to play in space exploration and colonisation, but FFS keep 'em away from the earth! :-) -- Malcolm Street Canberra, Australia The nation's capital |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
"Rodney Kelp" wrote in message
... Well if you had a moon base you could go and fetch an asteroid and bring it to the moon and process it. Are you processing the asteroid into products for use on the lunar surface? Because if the products are intended for use anywhere else, better to process the asteroidal material in orbit than on the lunar surface. -- Regards, Mike Combs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Member of the National Non-sequitur Society. We may not make much sense, but we do like pizza. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Joann Evans wrote:
:Rodney Kelp wrote: : : Well if you had a moon base you could go and fetch an asteroid and bring it : to the moon and process it. : : Why necessairily the Moon? You can't land it, any 'processing' will be n the asteroid itself, so it might as well be a high Earth orbit. Except most of our industrial processes work better in the presence of at least some gravity. It makes a lot of things a lot more convenient. I'd think you just chuck it into a crater from on high and then go strip mine it out. No 'landing it' necessary. Little to no atmosphere means you can use solar furnaces for smelting. : And 'go and fetch an asteroid' is easy to say... Yep. : Plus drilling and mining on the moon may : discover all kinds of useful minerals and possibly water. : We could do it if we only spent what is spent on cosmetics and cosmetic : surgery which is a total waist of money on vanity. : : And what's wrong with vanity? Rodney talks like someone who has never seen his girlfriend without makeup. :-) -- "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." --George Bernard Shaw |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
"Fred J. McCall" wrote:
Joann Evans wrote: :Rodney Kelp wrote: : : Well if you had a moon base you could go and fetch an asteroid and bring it : to the moon and process it. : : Why necessairily the Moon? You can't land it, any 'processing' will be n the asteroid itself, so it might as well be a high Earth orbit. Except most of our industrial processes work better in the presence of at least some gravity. It makes a lot of things a lot more convenient. I'd think you just chuck it into a crater from on high and then go strip mine it out. No 'landing it' necessary. Little to no atmosphere means you can use solar furnaces for smelting. But could you make the impact as a velocity low enough to leave something worth working on (as opposed to scattering much of the mass over half the Moon, and ejected back into space, with the following orbital debris issues), as well as no major damage to the area? That's what I meant by 'can't land it.' You can certainly arrange an impact, but... -- You know what to remove, to reply.... |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
"Malcolm Street" wrote:
All you need to do is get a dinosaur-killer-sized asteroid into orbit closer than the moon without risking it hitting the earth. No, and no. You don't have to start with something 10 km in diameter, 200 m in diameter is a huge good start for just getting a lot of mass available that isn't at the bottom of (quite so deep) a gravitational well, and you don't have to get it physically closer than the material on the moons surface, just energetically closer, which any stable Lagrangian point orbit would suffice to accomplish. Now that Smart-1 has proved humankind capable of doing space the slow and steady way, what _are_ the implications for robotically shipping a "rock" from the asteroid belt to L5, probably (I have no clue how to do the math) simpler than diverting something in a profoundly non-circular solar orbit, like an earth's orbit transiting asteroid, if one is willing to be patient. And, what constitutes a big enough "rock" to be worth the effort? xanthian. -- Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Space Calendar - May 28, 2004 | Ron | History | 0 | May 28th 04 04:03 PM |
Space Calendar - April 30, 2004 | Ron | History | 0 | April 30th 04 03:55 PM |
Space Calendar - March 26, 2004 | Ron | Astronomy Misc | 0 | March 26th 04 04:05 PM |
Space Calendar - February 27, 2004 | Ron | History | 0 | February 27th 04 03:40 PM |
Space Calendar - June 27, 2003 | Ron Baalke | Misc | 3 | June 28th 03 05:36 PM |