Space Forum / Space Policy / May 2004

Nut-with-a-lawyer alert:
http://www.stopthenoise.org/
"Stop the Noise mission is to ask for at least prohibition on
recreational flying in this area, and, from a longer range perspective,

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4926298/
"WASHINGTON - Thirteen advocacy groups, industry associations and
space policy organizations announced their support Friday for
President Bush's vision to send astronauts to the moon and Mars.

It seems as if Rutan may get it.
The prize expires next January, so does anyone know, even after the
Ansari
contribution, does the foundation have 10 million?

NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics project was shut down in January 2003
due to lack of funding. Why can't they look for funding elsewhere, like most
non profit agencies do. Does federal law require that all of NASA's funding
come from the federal budget?

Europe to become world leader in the rapidly developing field of
nanotechnology.
The Communication, "Towards a European strategy for nanotechnology",
provides a series of recommendations and initiatives on how to

Ok, the cheapness of lunar produced aluminum and solar panels
compared to those launched from Earth has been talked about here
many-many times, so I decided to do some calculations. Unfortunately
I don't have all the data I want, so I'm starting off with a much

After the claiming of the X-Prize (hopefully) this year, and with the NASA
centennial challenges program, there is some need for new ideas for
aerospace prizes. One very simple upgrade to the X-Prize idea would be an
upgraded X-Prize with a significant downrange component.

I have a question that I have thought about for many years to do with
gravity and electric but have never found the answer.
As Einstein is not around I thought id run it by you guys.  I just don't
understand and was wondering if anybody could help.

It just occurred to me today that whenever I've seen people talk about
space colonies orbiting the Earth-Moon Lagrange points, it's always
assumed that the first colony will be at the L5 point (trailing the moon
in its orbit) rather than the L4 point (ahead of the moon).

Ladies and Gentlemen -
First, forgive the long post.
With the US President's Moon and Mars initiative seeming to
drift slowly off into the past, what might be the next

Occasionally, the topic of storable biprops comes up in this group,
and I usually see someone mention that ClF5 gives a solid improvement
with hydrazine over the standard UDMH/N2O4.
A quick check in the ISP calculator suggests an ISP boost of under 7%.

the news posted a couple of days ago and no comments here at all..
Herm
Astropics http://home.att.net/~hermperez

Kevin Smith Show - Internet Radio Re-Defined
There are some very mysterious similarities between the disappearance
of the Phobos 2 (Russian) satellite, and the disappeaerance of the
Beagle 2 (ESA) satellite.  Kevin discusses the last phot in each

i just stumbled over a chapter in Boeings Reports First-Quarter 2004
Results:
"Launch and Orbital Systems' first-quarter results were affected by
the continued weakness in commercial space markets and cost growth in

Sex, the final frontier: Nasa acts to ensure that astronauts don't
follow their urges
By Charles Arthur, Technology Editor
29 April 2004