Critical time

To expand on Mike's comments...

Travel times also affect economics: time is money. All other things
being equal, a private venture would prefer the option with the shorter
travel times.

(Of course, all other things aren't equal, so I'm unsure as to which is the
lowest bar to jump: Moon? NEAs? Phobos/Deimos?)

Ron Menich

"Combs, Mike"
ssi_list@... ssi_list@...
04/03/01
03:30 PM
Please
respond to
ssi_list

A Mars project would not be as bad as you think if it is not cut abruptly
as
the Apollo program.
I'd agree that a big push toward Mars would be better for High Frontier
than no new projects in space at all.
In space, what count is not distance, it is energy or delta
vee. In that respect, the martian satellites are are better target than
the
Moon.
To a certain extent. But travel times must be taken into account too, and
can make a big difference wrt life-support requirements. Also, it's
possible that teleoperation may become available. If so, it could be
implemented on the moon, but not at the distance of Mars.

Regards,

Mike Combs