L5

Materials from an "asteroid of convenience" will be much cheaper. It
still takes some energy from equipment that has to be moved or built on
the Moon, which will cost Billions. All total we humans have only put
perhaps 200 tons on the Moon so far.

The Europeans are readying an effort to actually push on a small
asteroid. The effort is called MADMEN; see
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/05/19/asteroid.eater/.

Park an asteroid in a 2 to 1 resonance orbit with the Moon and make a
home there. It is easier to get too than the Moon, not too difficult to
get a small asteroid to providing it is already in a useful orbit, is at
the site of millions of tons (100 M diameter asteroid) of materials, and
the orbit would be stable. A better location by all accounts. A
disadvantage is that it is harder to explain but I expect that will
pass. Jay Huebner

Behalf Of Ron Fox

With regard to L5 as a good location for locating a habitat, how much
energy is required to get material from the moon (or lunar orbit) to
L5? Why go to L5 anyway? Why wouldn't lunar orbit (perhaps a polar
orbit) provide all benefits of L5 while being closer to the source of
materials?

>
> Right, Kent. Exactly.
>
> It's sticky space.
>
> If the ISS was there we wouldn't have to keep boosting it back up
> every six months or so. It would stay there.
>
> But we need to factor everything in to see if there's a real cost
> savings and of course we have to be capable of doing it in the first
> place.
>
> > Orbital Mechanics is not my strong suit, but my understanding is
> that it is
> > not orbit you want to achieve at L5. With earth/moon gravity
> canceling each
> > other out, L5 becomes very stable for objects placed there. Exiting
> L5 takes
> > very little Delta-V.
> >
> > Kent
> >
> > > OK, I'll bite. Exactly how do you get to L5 and get into orbit
> > > there? Can you leave LEO with just enough Delta-V that you coast
> into
> > > a cozy little kidney-bean-shaped orbit, or do you need as big a
> burn
> > > once you get there as you neede to get out of LEO?
> > >
> > > I'd imagine that L5 can't be that bad a place, else it wouldn't've
>
> > > been proposed in the first place.
> > >
education

History of space My first Space exploration