Timothy Ferris: Moon is our steppingstone to stars

Timothy Ferris: Moon is our steppingstone to stars
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/4286079.html

Timothy Ferris is an excellent writer and I hope others join in on the
bandwagon for reemergence into space big scale with big committment. Maybe
Timothy can be the next Carl Sagan and get people moving and excited again.

As we all know, it is really just a matter of time. Our future is out there
for us to pursue.

Timothy Ferris is an excellent writer and I hope others join in on the
bandwagon for reemergence into space big scale with big committment. Maybe
Timothy can be the next Carl Sagan and get people moving and excited again.

As we all know, it is really just a matter of time. Our future is out there
for us to pursue.

Just tell the current US administration that Bin Laden and his entourage are
on the Moon. ~`8^)

"Fr Chas" wrote:
Timothy Ferris is an excellent writer and I hope others join in on the
bandwagon for reemergence into space big scale with big committment.
Maybe
Timothy can be the next Carl Sagan and get people moving and excited
again.

As we all know, it is really just a matter of time. Our future is out
there
for us to pursue.

Just tell the current US administration that Bin Laden and his entourage are
on the Moon. ~`8^)

"Fr Chas" wrote:
Timothy Ferris is an excellent writer and I hope others join in on the
bandwagon for reemergence into space big scale with big committment.
Maybe
Timothy can be the next Carl Sagan and get people moving and excited
again.

As we all know, it is really just a matter of time. Our future is out
there
for us to pursue.

Sam Wormley wrote:

Timothy Ferris: Moon is our steppingstone to stars
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/4286079.html

That's a bunch of crap. The Moon is an inert observation platform, a
low-gee launch platform, and a bunch of rock under which humans can
burrow so they do not get fried by radiation a la ass-tronauts in
International Space Station Freedm FUBAR Space Hole One. If you think
accumulating a couple of hundred "harmless" chest x-rays is not
Official Truth, look up how many long duration ass-tronauts got
radiation cataracts five years later.

http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/nasa3.htm
A cheap practical self-contained moon base - already proven in use
and off-the-shelf to install.
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/nasa2.htm
The political colonization of the moon.

--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" The Net!

Sam Wormley wrote:

Timothy Ferris: Moon is our steppingstone to stars
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/4286079.html

That's a bunch of crap. The Moon is an inert observation platform, a
low-gee launch platform, and a bunch of rock under which humans can
burrow so they do not get fried by radiation a la ass-tronauts in
International Space Station Freedm FUBAR Space Hole One. If you think
accumulating a couple of hundred "harmless" chest x-rays is not
Official Truth, look up how many long duration ass-tronauts got
radiation cataracts five years later.

http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/nasa3.htm
A cheap practical self-contained moon base - already proven in use
and off-the-shelf to install.
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/nasa2.htm
The political colonization of the moon.

--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" The Net!

In sci.physics, Uncle Al

wrote
on Fri, 26 Dec 2003 08:10:10 -0800
:
Sam Wormley wrote:

Timothy Ferris: Moon is our steppingstone to stars
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/4286079.html

That's a bunch of crap. The Moon is an inert observation platform, a
low-gee launch platform, and a bunch of rock under which humans can
burrow so they do not get fried by radiation a la ass-tronauts in
International Space Station Freedm FUBAR Space Hole One. If you think
accumulating a couple of hundred "harmless" chest x-rays is not
Official Truth, look up how many long duration ass-tronauts got
radiation cataracts five years later.

http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/nasa3.htm
A cheap practical self-contained moon base - already proven in use
and off-the-shelf to install.

I would wish for more detailed specifications, although
these aren't too bad. In particular, the self-contained
caterpiller tractor looks interesting, as does the
booster-assisted Saturn V rocket unit -- assuming the
boosters don't develop faults and explode. I'd have to do
some computations on how much energy would be required to
haul rock out of a hole, given a certain size explosion.

(One can presumably compute the size of the crater, given
the amount of energy in the explosion and the density of
the rock, neglecting such issues as heating the rock and
transmitting energy throughout the moon -- a moonquake,
if you will. There are issues as to how the rubble
distributes itself, which I'm not familiar with, if one
assumes a huge central kaboom. Luckily the g acceleration
factor is less.)

It's a pity one can't build an electromagnetic track
accelerator of around 400 km in length; the cost per launch
would be much cheaper, but the initial building cost
would be ridiculously large, and the power requirements
would require that California go dark for a few minutes
per launch. Not all that bad a thing, perhaps (even if I
do live here), but a bit problematic given our current
economy. :-) There's also the little problem of aiming.

(F = ma; E = Fd; a = 100 N/kg (or m/s/s), unless one
actually prefers being converted into jelled ham; v =
8000 m/s (orbital speed at Earth's surface = sqrt(gr) =
sqrt(9.81 m/s/s * 6.378*10^6 m) = 7910 m/s); m = 100000
kg (a little more than the landing weight of your, erm,
least favorite vehicle :-) ); P = E/t = Fd/t = mad/t =
100000 * 100 * 8000 / 1 = 80 gigawatts. On the plus side
the total energy = 1/2 mv^2 = 1/2 * 100000 * (8000^2) =
3.2 teraJoules, which translates into an 80 second track
time (the power requirement is triangular, if one graphs
it versus time). 3.2 teraJoules = 889 megawatt-hours; if
the cost of electricity is 15 cents/kWh, that translates
into an electrical cost of about $133,000. The total
length transitted would of course be 1/2 at^2 = 1/2 *
100 * 80^2 = 320 km; the rest is safety slack. If one
wants to cut back on the power (but not the energy)
requirements, or wishes a less brutal acceleration,
one can build a longer track.)

It's more practical than a space elevator, although not
much more -- the tube would have to be fully encased
and vacuum-sealed in order to avoid burning up the
victims^Wastronauts in the lower troposphere, on the
track or just off it. Ideally, we'd run it at an angle
with the exit point on the top of Mount Everest -- and I
doubt the Shirpas (or the Chinese, or anyone within a few
hundred km radius) would be all that happy with the sonic
boom and resulting avalanches; nor is it clear whether
the astronauts wouldn't burn up even at that altitude,
as they exit the tube.

(The idea is partly in response to a very old silent movie,
where a giant gun fires a shell into the Moon's eye,
and the explorers in the shell emerge and have various
adventures with the Moon Men or something. I have no
idea how they got back, as I've only seen clips -- but
it's clear that the gun would have to be extremely long.
320 km, in fact.)

Perhaps we'd be better off just putting Adam and Eve on
the moon (with appropriate farm equipment), and sending
them occasional shipments of diesel fuel, explosives,
plants, and **** to build new housing and farms for their
progeny... :-)

http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/nasa2.htm
The political colonization of the moon.


--
#191,
It's still legal to go .sigless.

In sci.physics, Uncle Al

wrote
on Fri, 26 Dec 2003 08:10:10 -0800
:
Sam Wormley wrote:

Timothy Ferris: Moon is our steppingstone to stars
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/4286079.html

That's a bunch of crap. The Moon is an inert observation platform, a
low-gee launch platform, and a bunch of rock under which humans can
burrow so they do not get fried by radiation a la ass-tronauts in
International Space Station Freedm FUBAR Space Hole One. If you think
accumulating a couple of hundred "harmless" chest x-rays is not
Official Truth, look up how many long duration ass-tronauts got
radiation cataracts five years later.

http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/nasa3.htm
A cheap practical self-contained moon base - already proven in use
and off-the-shelf to install.

I would wish for more detailed specifications, although
these aren't too bad. In particular, the self-contained
caterpiller tractor looks interesting, as does the
booster-assisted Saturn V rocket unit -- assuming the
boosters don't develop faults and explode. I'd have to do
some computations on how much energy would be required to
haul rock out of a hole, given a certain size explosion.

(One can presumably compute the size of the crater, given
the amount of energy in the explosion and the density of
the rock, neglecting such issues as heating the rock and
transmitting energy throughout the moon -- a moonquake,
if you will. There are issues as to how the rubble
distributes itself, which I'm not familiar with, if one
assumes a huge central kaboom. Luckily the g acceleration
factor is less.)

It's a pity one can't build an electromagnetic track
accelerator of around 400 km in length; the cost per launch
would be much cheaper, but the initial building cost
would be ridiculously large, and the power requirements
would require that California go dark for a few minutes
per launch. Not all that bad a thing, perhaps (even if I
do live here), but a bit problematic given our current
economy. :-) There's also the little problem of aiming.

(F = ma; E = Fd; a = 100 N/kg (or m/s/s), unless one
actually prefers being converted into jelled ham; v =
8000 m/s (orbital speed at Earth's surface = sqrt(gr) =
sqrt(9.81 m/s/s * 6.378*10^6 m) = 7910 m/s); m = 100000
kg (a little more than the landing weight of your, erm,
least favorite vehicle :-) ); P = E/t = Fd/t = mad/t =
100000 * 100 * 8000 / 1 = 80 gigawatts. On the plus side
the total energy = 1/2 mv^2 = 1/2 * 100000 * (8000^2) =
3.2 teraJoules, which translates into an 80 second track
time (the power requirement is triangular, if one graphs
it versus time). 3.2 teraJoules = 889 megawatt-hours; if
the cost of electricity is 15 cents/kWh, that translates
into an electrical cost of about $133,000. The total
length transitted would of course be 1/2 at^2 = 1/2 *
100 * 80^2 = 320 km; the rest is safety slack. If one
wants to cut back on the power (but not the energy)
requirements, or wishes a less brutal acceleration,
one can build a longer track.)

It's more practical than a space elevator, although not
much more -- the tube would have to be fully encased
and vacuum-sealed in order to avoid burning up the
victims^Wastronauts in the lower troposphere, on the
track or just off it. Ideally, we'd run it at an angle
with the exit point on the top of Mount Everest -- and I
doubt the Shirpas (or the Chinese, or anyone within a few
hundred km radius) would be all that happy with the sonic
boom and resulting avalanches; nor is it clear whether
the astronauts wouldn't burn up even at that altitude,
as they exit the tube.

(The idea is partly in response to a very old silent movie,
where a giant gun fires a shell into the Moon's eye,
and the explorers in the shell emerge and have various
adventures with the Moon Men or something. I have no
idea how they got back, as I've only seen clips -- but
it's clear that the gun would have to be extremely long.
320 km, in fact.)

Perhaps we'd be better off just putting Adam and Eve on
the moon (with appropriate farm equipment), and sending
them occasional shipments of diesel fuel, explosives,
plants, and **** to build new housing and farms for their
progeny... :-)

http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/nasa2.htm
The political colonization of the moon.


--
#191,
It's still legal to go .sigless.