Space Forum / Space Policy / February 2008

William F. Buckley gave conservatives reason to believe not only in
themselves, but in the very system that fostered conservative
thought.
Buckley left behind not only a conservative legacy, but a huge litany

In his latest column from the US for The First Post, Alexander
Cockburn recounts a meeting between two doctors, Robin Silver and Bob
Witzeman, and Senator McCain in 1992 to discuss contentious
environmental issues regarding Mount Graham in Arizona.

http://www.fas.usda.gov/ffpd/Newsroom/2007%20Wood.pdf
The US uses 1 cubic meter of softwood and 0.4 cubic meter of hardwood
per person per year.  If the entire world were to use paper and wood
at this rate the world would need 6.6 billion cubic meters of softwood

Worldwide Home Workers Needed.
Earn by doing simple Computer Jobs. No Selling Required.
No Going out of Home. No Office. No Boss. Not a 9 to 5 job.
No experience required. Simple Jobs. Basic knowledge of

ASAT? Oh, that.
http://www.dni.gov/testimonies/20080213_transcript.pdf
HEARING OF THE HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE
GLOBAL SECURITY ASSESSMENT

I'm cross-posting this from soc.history.science, where I originally
posted it. It has to do with technology in general, but is also
heavily related to space.
There are a number of examples of ancient peoples having a potentially

Please visit:
http://www.centerforinquiry.net/forums/viewthread/3283/
to see how we stopped James Randi's MILLION DOLLAR PARANORMAL
CHALLENGE

I see that a new X-prize was announced.
http://www.personalspaceflight.info/2007/09/13/next-x-prize-will-be-a-real-lunar
-lander-challenge/
Build a lunar lander
A lunar lander with custom launcher would be adaptable to a small

This is my favorite NASA photo Gallery - lots of great photos of missions
(hit Index) with different sized JPG files to choose from....this one goes
straight to STS-122 (it's always exciting when they attach another lab) :
http://spaceflight.nasa ...

http://wsx.lanl.gov/mtf.html
http://wsx.lanl.gov/MTF/mtf-pix/images/MTF-Schematic-color.jpg
Looks like a candidate for a nuclear fusion rocket engine, I kid you not.
What would the ISP be of such an engine? 10.000 seconds or so? Could this

With all the excitement experienced during the past few days with the
attachment of the Columbus module to the ISS, I was reminded of the types of
Space Station modules proposed back in the 1980's....
These tended to have a longer design, filling up the entire payload bay of

Recently I have posted some ideas related to mining the asteroid belt
from Earth.
Basically, we proceed as follows;
 (1) build a reusable multi-stage heavy lift rocket fleet

Apparently, Bigelow has patented an inflatable shell for the purpose
of deflecting incoming radiation such as Ir, optical radiation or
radar.  I have not looked at said patent but it may be in the realm of
"prior art" or prior knowledge.  In the late 80s, I proposed such a

Mike Griffin is blaming Lockheed Martin for all the complaints about
Ares.
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2008/02/08/ares-complaints-blame-lockheed/
http://www.transterrestrial.com/archives/2008/02/more_fur_on_the_1.html