A change in thinking about ISS

The space station is going to happen. The money is being spent. The
worst thing that could happen would be to go 95 percent of the way there
and then stop.

It looks to me like alot of people don't buy the rational for ISS. How
about that it will provide a facility on orbit to develop, test and
construct all the things this list talks about. From orbital power
facilities to all the things on Ron's list. Ultimately humans need an on
orbit platform/facitity to implement. Some thoughts...

> * Find ALL NEAs larger than 100 m in diameter

Develop smaller orbital telescopes, designed specifically for maping
NEAs. (After all you don't need a big gun like Hubble). Case the pieces
to survive launch on the shuttle. Assembled and place on orbit from ISS,
maybe using a tether ....

> * Robotically explore 50 NEAs

Develop small robotic spacecraft that can be assembled and placed on
orbit from ISS (again perhaps using a tether ....

> * Explore the Lunar poles robotically for ice presence and extractability

Assemle more small robotic spacecraft that can be assembled and placed
on orbit from ISS ....

> * Explore the Lunar surface for caves, ore concentrations, and other sites
> of future industrial interest

Use ISS as a hub for an assembly facility for larger vessles that could
take us back to the moon...

> ... power beaming technology development

In conjunction with ground based facilities, assemble, place on orbit
the test technology necessary to make beamed power a reality ....

Im sure you all can punch holes in all these ideas. I can myself. But
the more important issue is adjusting our thinking about the ISS. It can
be a great on orbit multi-use facility to accomplish a hole spectrum of projects.

Once a complete facility is in place, we can start developing ways to
apply it. Just think about how computers used to be the big thing for
word processing and not much more. Now what can't you do with them.

That baby is going up there. It can be a white elephant or we can figure
out how to get the most out of it. Our choice ...

>
> Again, the question is simply one of opportunity cost. ISS will
> eventually cost, I think, $60 billion. Perhaps there will be extensive
> interest in it, perhaps not. Perhaps there will be some good experimental
> results that come out of it, too.
>
> But that $60 billion could have been used instead for
> * Find ALL NEAs larger than 100 m in diameter
> * Robotically explore 50 NEAs
> * Explore the Lunar poles robotically for ice presence and extractability
> * Explore the Lunar surface for caves, ore concentrations, and other sites
> of future industrial interest
> * etc., etc.
>
> The specific items I've listed so far wouldn't even have come close to
> adding up to $60 billion. But they would have done a heck of a lot more
> for speeding our transition to a spacefaring society than ISS can ever hope
> to do.
>
> Ron Menich
>
> > The station ISS should be cancelled, or transfered to private
> > ownership.
> > As it stands today, with NASA running it, ISS is the biggest obstacle to
> > space development today.
>
> I'm not sure that I agree with this statement. Sure, NASA is a
> bureaucratic nightmare and has...interesting... priorities, but let's face
> it. The ISS has gotten people interested in space again. Not just pretty
> pictures from the Hubble telescope, but people living and working right in
> our own backyard (cosmicly speaking). Revitalizing the public's interest
> can't be a bad thing, can it?
>
> --Justin
>

Robin Chew
proU.net, Inc. - http://www.proU.net
Lucidcafe Interactive Cafe - http://www.lucidcafe.com