Another Thread

I'm surprised no one picked up on this (as far as I can see). The way
to make a hotel/resort directly relate to the SSI mission, IMHO, is to
have it as a full scale model of a Stanford torus.

If you like this idea, you might want to check out
beast for $10 billion.

++JohnWheeler

> I spent four days last week at the third annual Lunar Development
> Conference (http://www.space-frontier.org/Projects/Moon/ldc2001.html),
> Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. I don't think developing the Moon as an
> industrial outpost is hearsay for this group, as I think it can help
develop
> the high frontier by providing a pathway which seems possible to me,
and in
> fact the high frontier may not be developable without first establishing
> industrial facilities on the Moon. Reality is the fact that about
50 space
> craft from Earth have been to the Moon, taking 12 men and other-wise
> providing sample-return (Soviet robotic) missions. These missions prove
> such things can be done, even with technology older than the Space
Shuttles.
> Potential investors are likely to be conservative and feel such
"proof" is
> important before they risk their financial futures in space ventures.
> At this conference we, correctly in my view, spent some time worrying
> about the cash-flow for realistically possible space developments which
> could lead to the Moon (and I think also the high frontier). The
fact that
> Las Vegas was a waste-land before development, but is now the fastest
> growing city in the USA was not lost on us. Nor was the fact that the
> hotel-resort Star-Trek (the Las Vegas Hilton) was so full they could
not let
> more people in. Such hotel-resorts may seem frivolous, but you
should know
> that some cost over $ 1.5 billion to build, and from my experience they
> really do expand the human experience, just as Disney's and other
such theme
> parks have. Many humans now, with a lot of money to spend, want to
> experience such places, and seek out more "advanced" ones. Maybe
they would
> rather really go to orbit or to the Moon, but that is not yet
available for
> a price they can pay. Perhaps there are billions to be made in
expanding
> the human experience to low earth orbit (LEO) first, to higher
orbits, to
> the Moon, and L-5. Dennis Tito was doing the former and there many
others,
> I understand, waiting with cash in hand to do the same. Can anyone do
> anything for the folks with less money now? Perhaps a hotel-resort
named
> Moon-Base (or something) in Las Vegas (and/or elsewhere) might help
them and
> our cause in a number of ways. It could be done in the near future,
and it
> could also help some of the companies that are already trying to
open space
> for all, like Lunacorp, Mircorp, SpaceDev, and many others (I don't
want to
> get into trying to listing them all, but I know there are many, many
> others). Can we find a way to encourage investing in a new hotel in Las
> Vegas? Perhaps this may seem far from the SSI mission, but is it?
Are our
> dreams so different from those of many trekkies (sp?)? I don't know
many
> trekkies, but I suspect at least some would rather have real space,
but it