I should clarify: when I said that Sep 11 cast a shadow over the prospects for cheap (unmanned) space launch schemes, I never meant to suggest that *I* thought this was a big deal. Only that many people would be inclined to think so. In a democracy, what many people think (rightly or not) makes a difference.
Take North Korea. (Please!) Look at all the anxiety over their budding nuke capability, and their missile technology. Not unreasonable, on the face of it. We can't have an unstable world awash in cheap ICBMs, can we? Not when they can deliver WMD, right? But wait a minute -- only recently has it surfaced in the western press that there's a ferry that's been plying the seas between Niigata, Japan, and North Korea. The news is mainly that these transits are now being substantially impeded. But this ferry run has been running trips every two weeks, quite openly, for a very long time. A few years back, some minor-party politicians made a mini-media splash with their announcement that North Koreans could take this ferry to Japan, take the bullet train into Tokyo, take the regular train to the Akihabara electronics district, and pick up all kinds of useful parts, including GPS equipment. And take it right back to North Korea, unmolested. This was not long after a N. Korean missile test lobbed a payload over Japan. Interest in this kind of thing seems to have subsided since then. There are about 10,000 permanent residents of Japan who hold North Korean passports. They send their children to schools whose classrooms have portraits of Kim Jong Il hanging on the wall. Many Japanese-Koreans operate pachinko parlors, and in repatriating some of their yen earnings, the North Korean passport-holders help supply the North with a significant portion of its hard-currency earnings. From which, of course, much weapons development can be funded. And still, you can see people lined up outside the pachinko parlors in the morning here in Tokyo, waiting for them to open. The point is: why are we worried about cheap access to orbit as a WMD threat? Is it really so hard to get WMD into a terrorist target country? If North Korea wanted to nuke Tokyo, for whatever stupid/evil reason, why wouldn't they just set up a front business in some neighborhood (or use one of the many they already own) and smuggle components into it? When it comes down to it, most "rogue states" (or "states of concern" as Madeleine Albright recast the term) however roguish, are investing in launch technologies for a reason that's plausibly legitimate: cheap deterrence. I've read that one reason why the North Korean government is interested in nukes and missiles is so that they can start melting down their huge army, (their only certain deterrent at the moment) and start developing a real economy. Well, why not test them on that claim? Tell them: "Actually, we'll start buying up every missile you can make that isn't deployed for deterrent purposes, provided you meet numerical targets for standing-army force reduction and open up for foreign direct investment. If you make good faith efforts for long enough, we'll even start helping you technologically. How will we dispose of your cheap missiles? Well, we've got lots of engineering students in the U.S. who would love to be putting various little test packages in space, like CubeSat, but who can't do it very often because the costs of launch are so high." -michael turner [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Sheff" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 12:34 AM Subject: RE: mass drivers for earth-to-orbit cargo lift (was Re: SPACE: Loss of the Satur > > Yep. That's what worked for Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. It got them > into the rocket launching business ... > > John Sheff > 12 Inman Street #64 > Cambridge, MA 02139 > 617-547-1353 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Reeve, > Jack W. > Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2003 11:01 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: mass drivers for earth-to-orbit cargo lift (was Re: SPACE: Loss > of the Satur > > > The best launch platform for any significant space exploration venture is a > safe and secure country buffered by an integrated intelligence and military > community rendered supremely capable and thoughtfully marshaled > internationally, thereby moving the theater of conflict between ourselves > and those who wish our version of existence harm well away from our shores, > our homes and our children. > > Seems to me that said military is extremely good at it, and that said intel > community is fast catching up to the military's peerless example. > > Oh, and said launch platform is priceless. > > Jack W. Reeve > > > > > == > You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/ > > == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
