New Space Settlement image

Ian,

Interesting! Can you provide more details on the launch vehicle and payload for your ~$1300/lb?

If we can get to LEO cheaply, then I have a plan for using nuclear/solar for the balance using tether propulsion. (i.e. www.teathers.com)

Regards,

Tom
From: Ian Woollard
To: spacesettlers@egroups.com
Sent: Saturday, December 23, 2000 4:40 PM
Subject: Re: [spacesettlers] Re: New Space Settlement image

Tom Tucker (Olympia) wrote:

> Dr. Omni, etal.,

> Comments? Any better ideas for financing once the cost of LEO is reduced
> substantially?

The current freight cost to LEO is ~$1300/lb. That's actually not
so bad. And it's going down. There's competition and reasonable
growth in the market (about 15% a year if I remember correctly.)

The main trick to financing is to sort out a business plan
that will actually work. Probably LEO-GEO boost would make
money. (The boost costs about 3-6x the above amount per pound
so it would be a big win to do that using space resources.)

> Tom
>
> *From:* Dr. Omni
>
> *To:* spacesettlers@egroups.com
>
> *Sent:* Thursday, December 21, 2000 7:17 PM
>
> *Subject:* Re: [spacesettlers] Re: New Space Settlement image
>
> From: "Combs, Mike" >
> To: >
> Sent: Tera-feira, 19 de Dezembro de 2000 15:12
> Subject: RE: [spacesettlers] Re: New Space Settlement image
>
> [snikt]
> > I agree with your thinking. Many Europeans might be comfortable in a
> Bernal
> > Sphere, but most Americans and others used to a little bit more
> distance
> > between neighbors probably wouldn't settle for anything less than an
> O'Neill
> > Cylinder.
> >
>
> Personally, I think that I would be happy even in a station made of
> discarded shuttle fuel tanks. For some reason, in Brazil most of middle
> class people live in apartment buildings 3 to 30 stories high (e.g.,
> I live
> in a 50 m^2 apartment in a 8th floor), and poor people often live in
> overcrowded slums; also, while American cities are usually built in flat
> lands, many Brazilian cities (like mine) are built on mountains, and
> that
> also contributes to shorten and concentrate our urban horizons. I
> remember
> that some newer (and therefore more sprawl-like) American cities, like
> Orlando, seemed very unpractical for me, with too many open spaces
> and too
> long distances. (Plus a horrible lack of sidewalks...) On the other
> hand,
> older cities like Philadelphia and New York have an urban density
> closer to
> what I like.
>
> The point is: feeling bad or good in a tiny space is just a matter of
> culture. I doubt that there will be no space colonization just because
> people would refuse to live in crowded rotating cans in space. I
> think that
> even an American from, let say, New York, would feel good in a Bernal
> sphere...
>
> > Regards,
> >
>
> Regards,
>
> > Mike Combs
>
> Lucio Coelho
>

Interesting! Can you provide more details on the launch vehicle and payload for your ~$1300/lb?

If we can get to LEO cheaply, then I have a plan for using nuclear/solar for the balance using tether propulsion. (i.e.
www.teathers.com
)

Regards,

Tom
From:
Ian Woollard
To:
spacesettlers@egroups.com
Sent:
Saturday, December 23, 2000 4:40 PM
Subject:
Re: [spacesettlers] Re: New Space Settlement image
Tom Tucker (Olympia) wrote:
> Dr. Omni, etal.,
Comments? Any better ideas for financing once the cost of LEO is reduced
> substantially?
The current freight cost to LEO is ~$1300/lb. That's actually not
so bad. And it's going down. There's competition and reasonable
growth in the market (about 15% a year if I remember correctly.)
The main trick to financing is to sort out a business plan
that will actually work. Probably LEO-GEO boost would make
money. (The boost costs about 3-6x the above amount per pound
so it would be a big win to do that using space resources.)
> Tom
>
> *From:* Dr. Omni
>
> *To:* spacesettlers@egroups.com mailto:spacesettlers@egroups.com>
>
> *Sent:* Thursday, December 21, 2000 7:17 PM
>
> *Subject:* Re: [spacesettlers] Re: New Space Settlement image
>
> From: "Combs, Mike"
> To:
>
> Sent: Tera-feira, 19 de Dezembro de 2000 15:12
> Subject: RE: [spacesettlers] Re: New Space Settlement image
>
> [snikt]
> > I agree with your thinking. Many Europeans might be comfortable in a
> Bernal
> > Sphere, but most Americans and others used to a little bit more
> distance
> > between neighbors probably wouldn't settle for anything less than an
> O'Neill
> > Cylinder.
> >
>
> Personally, I think that I would be happy even in a station made of
> discarded shuttle fuel tanks. For some reason, in Brazil most of middle
> class people live in apartment buildings 3 to 30 stories high (e.g.,
> I live
> in a 50 m^2 apartment in a 8th floor), and poor people often live in
> overcrowded slums; also, while American cities are usually built in flat
> lands, many Brazilian cities (like mine) are built on mountains, and
> that
> also contributes to shorten and concentrate our urban horizons. I
> remember
> that some newer (and therefore more sprawl-like) American cities, like
> Orlando, seemed very unpractical for me, with too many open spaces
> and too
> long distances. (Plus a horrible lack of sidewalks...) On the other
> hand,
> older cities like Philadelphia and New York have an urban density
> closer to
> what I like.
>
> The point is: feeling bad or good in a tiny space is just a matter of
> culture. I doubt that there will be no space colonization just because
> people would refuse to live in crowded rotating cans in space. I
think that