IMAX L5 First City In Spase.

From: spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Xenophile

> It would have been nice if it had been "the Sattelite Solar
> Power Stations we build have provided the Earth with abundant,
> clean energy and helped to reduce poverty worldwide," instead
> of "we needed it to explore the outer planets."
>
> Or even "the Sattelite Solar Power Stations we build have
> provided the Earth with abundant, clean energy and helped to
> reduce poverty worldwide... almost as a side effect, the
> Island has made exploration of the outer planets much easier."

It made me wonder if Pat Rawlings had rejected SPS as a driving force
for the development of space habitats. It's true that interest in SPS
initially derived from concerns that we were running out of oil, and
then the decades to follow saw abundant, cheap oil flow from the Middle
East. But I think the time may be ripe for a reexamination of SPS. Oil
costs seemed to be on the rise again, many are questioning the wisdom of
allowing oil to necessitate our entanglement in Middle East politics,
and we're concerned that fossil fuels may be causing global warming.

> The idea that it takes thirty years to go from one habitat to
> two is simply unacceptable. It would mean, basically, that
> the whole space habitat things was a failure for thirty years.

NASA's best estimates were that the first habitat would take 22 years to
complete. So the movie saying "nearly 30 years" for the first one
sounds about right. But NASA estimated that the first habitat, once
built, could build another in 2 years.

Regards,

Mike Combs