why outer space?

I once heard a story, from a reasonably reliable source, that one deep
space nuclear power source survived a launch accident which dumped it
in the pacific. It was retrieved, reused, and worked fine.

phoebos@... wrote:

> I thought Nasa had developed the nuclear power plants for the deep space
> probes to be extremely safe, even in the event of a midlaunch breakup.
> Is this an untruth on their part? The plutonium is encased in hard
> ceramic spheres, to ensure that even if it broke up, the danger of
> direct plutonium poisoning is negligible. Besides, the surface of the
> moon is a pretty radioactive place anyways. If we cannt consider the
> possibility of using one there , then what the hell are we doing
> mounting these things on gigantic shells filled with volatiles and
> igniting it?
>
> Ah well, use solar power and store it in nicad batteries, manufactured
> from lunar materials. Either way, I do not care, as long as my plants
> get some light, and some dinner in my belly..
>
> Make good on the promise you made at graduation to keep
> high school alumni--chances are you'll find your friends!
>
> SPACE LINKS TO PHOEBOS
>

>
> [Click for Lufkin,TX forecast]

> Instant Messenger
>
Al Globus
aglobus@..., (650) 604-4404
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/~globus/home.html

The dinosaurs weren't spacefaring. We are. I don't think that's an
accident.
Maybe we are life's taxi to the stars.

I think we should:

1. Devote half of NASA's budget ($7 billion) to reaching NASA's 2020
goal of
reducing launch costs to Low-Earth-Orbit to $220/kg with a 0.01% failure
rate.
This should enable space tourism. The resulting orbital hotels will need
to
develop efficient orbital life support and other necessary technologies.

2. Build orbital space colonies. The materials in the largest asteroid
are
sufficient for orbital colonies with a combined surface area about 500
times
greater than Earth's. Eros alone could make over ten thousand space
colonies,
each with about about 10 square kilometers of 1g living area.

3. After a few generations of orbital living, people won't need their
colony
to be near Sol. Then small groups of colonies with populations in the
tens-of-thousands can set out on multi-decade journeys to nearby stars.

Except the launch goals, none of this is even a little bit official.