Space Forum / Space Flight / May 2005

If we ever finally start mining the asteroids, one issue that comes up is
that of bringing the mined metals to Earth.
One possibility may be a large number of heavy-duty shuttles, but that would
cost a great deal.

Korycansky et al wrote about moving Earth via 1 million
engineered asteriod near-misses, to avoid climate change
as the sun grows hotter:
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0102126

Anyone know the status of research on heat exchanger laser launch
technology?  By that I mean a vehicle that carries a propellant (maybe
ammonia) that runs through a heat exchanger in the skin of the vehicle,
is heated by a ground-based laser, and is exhausted through a nozzle,

Is epoxy LOX compatible?  What would it take to ignite it?  What other
options are there for the home office ;-} ?

An article about some features of the Venus mission design I worked on
last year made the most recent (7 May) issue of _New Scientist_:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-05/ns-amt050405.php

Anybody out there with some thoughts on the best approach for the CEV?
Simple capsule vs. some sort of aero vehicle?   Myself, I lean towards
the capsule just to keep things simple and lightweight, so that it can go
to ISS without something bigger than an EELV-Heavy or a single ...

This website...
http://www.astronautix.com/stages/satkhead.htm
..mentions a "flat bulkhead" for a possible Saturn IC revision that
"consists of multiple conical sections."

OK, it has been nearly a week since SAS 2005 began and there are no
posts about what took place. Would someone who was fortunate enough to
attend fill me in on what I missed?
-- flightless in Seattle

What do you think the minimum launch cost would be to orbit?  I'm
interested in what factors may apply:  launch fees, basic insurance,
bribes, whatever.
For the purposes of answering this, I have a 200 gram Estes rocket

The Space Shuttle heat shield has changed over time.  Basically they
have replaced tiles with things requiring less maintence on the less
critical (cooler) areas.  However, the hottest areas remain tiles.
Suppose someone were to make a shuttle-like craft today.  What would