Keeping your habitat on the track

From: Tom Tucker (Olympia) [mailto:tntucker@...]

What many people don't realize is that garbage, if made of recyclable
materials, may be very valuable to space colonists, especially if the costs
of obtaining more of whatever is still around $10,000/KG.

We probably won't have any space colonists for as long as lift costs stay
where they are now, but your point is still valid. Even if we assume two
orders of magnitude reduction, an awful lot of recycling would be cheaper
than $100/Kg. Another factor is that energy costs in a space colony are apt
to be lower, due to the continuous availability of sunlight.

Rgds,
Mike Combs

From:
Tom Tucker (Olympia) [mailto:tntucker@...]

What many people don't realize is that garbage, if made of recyclable
materials, may be very valuable to space colonists, especially if the costs
of obtaining more of whatever is still around $10,000/KG.

We probably won't have any space colonists for as long as lift costs stay where they are now, but your point is still valid. Even if we assume two orders of magnitude reduction, an awful lot of recycling would be cheaper than $100/Kg. Another factor is that energy costs in a space colony are apt to be lower, due to the continuous availability of sunlight.

Rgds,
Mike Combs