space station points ( TGD)

Ed Minchau wrote:

> -- Those big Al-Li tanks are useful for
> more than raw aluminum in orbit. Each is rated at over 1 atm of
> pressure, and they are _huge_ - the entire Mir space station
> (dismantled) could fit inside the LH2 tank. The walls are also
> thicker than any space station walls to date and a lower surface area
> to volume ratio than Mir or ISS.

...

> The idea is to build one space island station in low earth orbit
> (actually two structures, the 7-tank microgravity structure and the
> 16 tank wheel station), and use it to bring in the early profits from
> tourism,

without low-cost more reliable launchers, there is no tourism. Dennis Tito
paid $20 million to visit Mir (or, hopefully ,ISS). While that's a great
place to start, the number of individuals with that kind of money is
extremely limited. With low cost launchers, there are no shuttle launches and
no external tanks in orbit.

Al Globus
aglobus@..., (650) 604-4404
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/~globus/home.html

The dinosaurs weren't spacefaring. We are. I don't think that's an accident.
Maybe we are life's taxi to the stars.

I think we should:

1. Devote half of NASA's budget ($7 billion) to reaching NASA's 2020 goal of
reducing launch costs to Low-Earth-Orbit to $220/kg with a 0.01% failure
rate.
This should enable space tourism. The resulting orbital hotels will need to
develop efficient orbital life support and other necessary technologies.

2. Build orbital space colonies. The materials in the largest asteroid are
sufficient for orbital colonies with a combined surface area about 500 times
greater than Earth's. Eros alone could make over ten thousand space colonies,

each with about about 10 square kilometers of 1g living area.

3. After a few generations of orbital living, people won't need their colony
to be near Sol. Then small groups of colonies with populations in the
tens-of-thousands can set out on multi-decade journeys to nearby stars.

Except the launch goals, none of this is even a little bit official.