Space Forum / Space Policy / May 2004

Nothing is living there, anyone has already been eaten by monsters.

With the intent of minimalizing initial cost there is another regolith
to LEO approach I have been contemplating.  Basically a combination of
the lunar tether and a very lean burn, (say 20:1), LH2/LOX rocket that
has been proposed previously as a earth moon transportation system.

We certainly attract evil beings when flying through space, they will
come to earth and eat us.
Better stay at home.

Is a single SRB by itself powerful enough to get any sort of payload
into orbit?
   Byeeeee.

I note that the first airship pictured at:
http://www.hobbyspace.com/AAdmin/archive/SpecialTopics/orbitalAirship.html
it looks like a dark blue in the front part of the V and then silver
in the 2 back parts.  On my shelf next to my desk I have one of

There has been some mention of the Saturn booster here at
the Johnson Space Center, and how it has been languishing in
the environment since it was moved here.
Trivia: Many people know that this was the last flyable

http://www.spacedaily.com/2004/040518060157.b9i1mcrm.html
China's space chief has declared that China will not pursue a manned mission
to the moon. A big disappointment, as this will surely dampen the U.S. need
for a return to the Moon.

At least according to Jeff Foust:
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/146/1

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"Science Without Bounds" is a book available for a FREE download
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China's first astronaut meets Buzz Aldrin and Bill Nelson
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-05/21/content_1483641.htm
China's first astronaut Yang Liwei (2nd L) talks with former US
astronauts Buzz Aldrin (1st R) and Bill Nelson (1st L) at the Capitol

While the U.S. plans to phase out the shuttle and abandon RLV
development in favor of a return to Apollo-style capsules, it's nice
to see that the Europeans are still pursuing reusable shuttle
concepts!

Well, they're advertising for various flight-vehicle-relevant
positions...

Mr. Oberg doesn't seem notified the sci.space NG's about this yet:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5006457/
It looks like NASA is going to make its annual attempt to use the Quest
airlock and US suits on ISS.  Dead power tools, airlock system failures (did

I think its well established here that space settlement can't really
progress in the absence of commercial incentive, save for giant
command economy space programs that could possibly start tiny,
enourmously expensive settlements of a few hundred glorified

Over lunched I read a couple of interesting papers by Kevin Parkin which
were presented at ISBEP II.  Both are available for download here:
<http://monolith.caltech.edu/html/Publications.html>
One describes a microwave thermal thruster and calculates its