Space Forum / Shuttle / April 2007

Ah, you've figured me out. How exciting for you. Thanks for the advice.

Reference, Transmittal Memo #??????, written by Craig E. Fink, from
McDonnell Douglas, to NASA JSC Library, dated shortly after Ronald Reagan,
who on behalf of the United States Government and NASA, made the offer** of
free External Tanks to anyone. If you care to go look up the references.
(**certain rules may apply, offer void where prohibited)

It's not a question of _if_ the External Tank can be taken to orbit for
free, but _how_ _high_ the External Tank can be taken, performance wise. As
the Space Station comes down into a lower Orbit, it approaches this
altitude from above. If it comes down enough, it crosses this altitude. The
MEMO addressed the technical aspects (GN&C, performance) of taking the
External Tank to Orbit. I'm sure there are other aspects of the NASA study,
but performance wasn't and isn't the issue. In addition, there are other
things that were not addressed in this MEMO that could reasonably be done
to further raise the altitude of break even point. In other words, take the
_BIG_ payload and the _Externel Tank_ to the Space Station.

I haven't met an ET before, but looking forward to the day. I'm an
Earthling, what planet are you from?

<pulls napkin back out, thinks, "Maybe I should have used an envelope, some
people don't seem to understand the "design by napkin" technique. Humm,
reaches for nearest envelope with a clean back.>

LEO Futures Market commodity #1 or 12, LOX,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_oxygen
...Density, 1.141 kg/L

LEO Futures Market storage facility allocation, 1 large tank.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_external_tank
...Volume, 1,497,440 liters

LEO Futures Market initial LOX market size,
...Lots (units) of LOX available for storage and trading, 1,700,000 one
kilogram.

LEO Futures Market estimated potential value of LOX market (at full
capacity) ...at $50,000 per kilogram, yields $85,000,000,000 market in LEO
for LOX with the first. <Hummm, that's a lot of zeros, better make an
adjustment> ... $5,000 per kilogram, yield $8.5 Billion potential market.

Six external tanks would yield a potential LEO Futures Market greater than
$50 Billion dollars with the first location in LEO. Seems to have a lot of
potential, I wonder who might need 1.7 million kilograms of LOX on a
regular basis?

I guess NASA needs to think _BIG_ instead of _small_ in their plans to
explore the Moon and Mars.