Moon bases too far, captured asteroid nearer :-)

Okay to hell with it, 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

In article . com,
says...
Okay to hell with it, shoot me down if you have to

You're a loony.

*bang*

Okay Bounty.

Time to put your money where your mouth is.

1) Download Orbiter from http://www.orbitersim.com -- you should only need
the main part of the simulator, but you can get the hi-res textures also, if
you want.

2) Follow the instructions to install it (very simple, unzip to a directory,
run orbiter.exe). Learn how to get into orbit. Learn to use the TransX
trajectory tool and make trajectories to intercept other bodies in Solar
orbit.

3) On the Orbiter Forum there is a post regarding the flyby of asteroid
2004MN with a scenario file for Orbiter included. Create the scenario file.
In the place of an actual body there is a spacecraft (a 'Delta Glider').
2004MN was the nearest NEO flyby recently, so it seems fair to give you the
benefit of trying to reach such a 'close' body.

4) Create a trajectory that will rendevous with Delta Glider/2004MN.

5) For bonus try decelerating it into a distant Earth orbit.

You get a silver star if you can do this with the default Delta Glider
included with Orbiter as it does not have realistic engines.

You get a gold star if you can do this with one of the expendable booster
addons (such as the Delta V Heavy + NASA CEV) or the Space Shuttle + CEV
type payload.

You get a platinum star if you make a several million megaton space craft
(just put a larger number after the mass line on the spacecraft config),
dock with it and try to decelerate _that_

Next, try to set up a rendevous with the Moon.

You will find that getting to the Moon is a hell of a lot easier than trying
to time a flight to a NEO or main belt asteroid. True, it does take more
delta-v to get off the surface, but you have the advantage of location.

If you _don't_ want to bother actually simulating this and understanding it
then consider yourself not crazy, just not well informed enough.

BTW, I am all for exploiting the riches that are just out there, trust me.
But getting to the nearest NEO is a pain. Luckily Orbiter doesn't consider
consumable supplies, breakdowns, and low-gravity mining.

Jeffrey Cornish
OrbiterSim enthusiast

"Bounty" wrote in message
ups.com...
Okay to hell with it, 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

On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 10:11:37 -0800, Jeffrey Cornish wrote:

Okay Bounty.

You mispelled Ahad, methinks

\--
Chuck Stewart
"Anime-style catgirls: Threat? Menace? Or just studying algebra?"

No,

I just used my Nuku Nuku decoder ring. Bounty sounded so much better than
Ahad anyway.

;-)

Jeffrey


"Chuck Stewart" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 10:11:37 -0800, Jeffrey Cornish wrote:

Okay Bounty.

You mispelled Ahad, methinks

\--
Chuck Stewart
"Anime-style catgirls: Threat? Menace? Or just studying algebra?"