Jed Rothwell wrote: > > As for space exploration, from earth-to-orbit the only cost-efficient, > sensible approach appears to be the space elevator. A space elevator would > eventually give us the ability to lift millions of tons of fabricated > equipment to orbit, and to assemble > spaceships there. Even with chemical fuel, this will open the entire solar > system to us. (But something like lunar helium-3 would probably be a better > choice.) > I disagree with you Jed. The Earth to Orbit energy runs about 120,000 BTU/kilogram easily done with using air-breathing, Piloted-Recoverable ScramJets and Robot-Auto-Pilot to low earth orbit. > > An elevator would be even be superior to a CF powered earth-to-space vehicle. > Right now a step-ladder would even be superior to CF. > > Japanese national television recently had a short news special about future > technology expected by the year 2050. The space elevator was prominently > featured. Many people are taking this idea seriously. I will grant, the > core technology has not been invented yet, but we are closer to it than we > are to something like Bush's plan to explore Mars. It would cost far less > than today's space shuttle program or the ISS. > When does Turner Classic Movies show the Japanese film:
"GODZILLA CHASES JED UP THE SPACE ELEVATOR"? :-) Fred > > - Jed >
