[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
How about we move all the hard core space engineers to a nice island in the
pacific, and start building and testing a reusable rocketship? I'll ask a
couple of eccentric millionaires to foot the bill. (As soon as I find them
:-). Then like in "Kings of the High Frontier" you suddenly start launching a
space facility into orbit before the governments of the world know what hit
them.
You mean like Tonga? Or perhaps just some nice, quiet place where those
who might object never tend to go anyway unless they're told to go
there, because there just aren't that many locals to impress and it's
quite a hike from comfortable suburbs. Like, say, Mojave.
Of course, once you get a permanent, private, manned orbital-or-above
presence, it becomes politically much more risky to object to continued
service of said presence. ("You're shutting down our launch facilities?
My GOD, man, we've got PEOPLE up there! Are you really going to force
us to let them STARVE, cold and alone, in space? Hell no, the
alternatives won't do. We, ah, kinda only made it compatible to our
launch vehicles. You're granting us permission to launch to sustain
them? Thanks; we'll have a fresh new crew, or perhaps an expanded crew,
up there before you can call us on it. No, sorry, you can't make us
abandon it: it's in international territory, and you don't own it.
You're welcome to try shutting down our launch facilities if you like.")
That reminds me, how do you make space exciting for girls and women? It is a
very white male-dominated field. Space Tourism is one option.
But that's just me. :-)
Pretty much the same way you make space exciting for boys and men. It
is sad fact that many women are socialized towards the "Math Is Hard"
airhead stereotype, but those types aren't that useful when it comes to
making access to space real anyway. Though, I will say that when I talk
about space, I find a bit more gender-balanced audience if I emphasize
that I'm hoping to open it to everyone who wishes to go (so long as they
can pay my price, of course), letting people or projects suceed or fail
on their own merits once I've gotten them up there, as opposed to
boasting that the one approach I am backing is sure to beat out all
contenders for private space access - unless and until, of course,
someone asks why I'm not just putting blind faith in NASA's contractors.
(For instance, *I* wish to direct my own efforts to the Moon before
Mars, but I have no problem with those who wish to direct their own
efforts to Mars first. No skin off my nose even if they succeed and I
fail, compared to I fail and they don't get to try, so long as their
success/failure does not tax my own resources. But both groups will
need a way to get to Earth orbit before they can do much else, quite
probably the same way, so both groups can cooperate on implementing
one...)
_______________________________________________
ERPS-list mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
