Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Heavy dose of reality

Yesterday's Space Show wasn't liveblogged because I couldn't get it to work.  It appears that the reason might have been that they were experimenting with video mode of delivering the show.

I have just listened to the recorded show and it was all about fuel depots.  It is a tough problem.  Like a lot of things, it is a lot easier said than done.  I haven't studied the program, and I don't know that I will do that.   It may be better to listen to it yourself, if interested.

Summary statement: 1) Depots warrant further investigation.  Steep tech curves, though.  Money for promising programs than he has heard about.  2) Promising, but lot of incremental demonstrators could answer a lot of questions- medium size steps needed.  Need to get answers soon, should be taking steps now which aren't expensive now. 3) need a balance between concepts and doing something.  Worry about tendency to make hardware too soon, precludes pathways that could be beneficial. 4) life science realities- don't know how biology fits into these other questions 5) delta v for plane changes are expensive; but attractiveness of depots are rising with respect to size of vehicle.  Physics- no show stoppers, looks like economic problem.   6) Need alternatives, don't get into big rush. 7) Chemical propulsion too limiting- nuclear propulsion should be looked into.

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