Reusing ISS Alpha designs

I do not think of the ISS as a total wasted effort. I
think that by developing a space plane which could
manuever around and explore different objects near
earth, it could be a great boon. Of course, the space
plane would have to have a range for it to be able to
go beyond LEO and possibly go as far as the moon.

Course, this is not the current design of the proposed
space plane. If the ISS could be seen as a docking
station for vehicles to launch from that did not have
to worry about launching through earth's atmosphere,
its potential could be realized.

Heck, you could even put together a couple of
different planes with various propulsion systems: use
ion engines for slower moving automated explorers
which could land on asteroids and return to the
station with samples. These miners would be totally
reusable. Solar sails to explore and photograph
passing objects.

The fact that these satellites could return to the ISS
for repairs would vastly improve the lifetime of these
probes.

As for the fascination with Mars, NASA suggested a
plan prior to the world space conference in which a
base would be built at earth-moon L1 and used as a
platform for exploring the moon and mars.

For a refresher on the plan, see
http://www.space.com/news/beyond_iss_020926-1.html

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