On 19 Nov 2009 at 12:23, Bruce Bostwick wrote: > That being said, what I really wish someone would propose is sending a > robot propulsion/navigation system out to a conveniently sized nickel/ > iron asteroid, bring it home, and park it in an orbit high enough to
Question: Would you need to go the asteroid belt for this, or are there inner-system asteroids, or even NEA's in easy-to-capture orbits, which would be useable? > lift them up from earth. And, if there's a surplus, make periodic > drops to the surface. Yep. Getting things /down/ is easy, things just need to fall correctly. Heck, even if there's a requirement for a Human to be up there and check the trajectory, it's cheap compared to the metals we're talking about. > Which is why the USSR never landed on the moon.) The Protons are a > much more mature system, especially now, granted, but a lot of the > legacy systems were USSR-built and .. well, let's just say they cut a > few corners here and there.] True, but they're an existing system, and while a proper replacement system is designed the Russians could do the man-lifting for NASA without the massive cost of Ares I launches. > Pournelle is probably just about right, there. :) It was in a now several-year old rant of his I agree with... Heck, you could give a billion to five companies to hedge your bets, include a couple of the major aerospace companies if you wanted. I'd still put my money on the small comnoanies coming up with the working designs at this point... AndrewC Dawn Falcon _______________________________________________ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
