Aucbvax.5258
fa.space
utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!space
Fri Nov 20 03:31:10 1981
SPACE Digest V2 #38
>From OTA@S1-A Fri Nov 20 03:21:17 1981
SPACE Digest Volume 2 : Issue 38
Today's Topics:
space and free enterprise
The fictitious NAA and its Sky Shuttle
Bibliography on Space Colonization
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Date: 19 Nov 1981 11:44:15-EST
From: csin!cjh at CCA-UNIX
To: space at mit-mc
Subject: space and free enterprise
The faith some people have in the free enterprise system (as it might
be applied to space) is truly touching. I don't see the slightest
likelihood of the current shuttle design ever being efficient enough to
support the kind of traveling that [davy] describes, although I'd be
happy to be proved wrong. Note that everyone who is currently and
seriously involved in private attempts to space is talking about satellites
(which, thanks to VLSI, have a very high performance/weight ratio
compared to the average human (outside of \very/ special talents))
rather than people.
Would anyone care to speculate on what the cost/person would be to
LEO if the shuttle were outfitted in a maximum-seating capacity
(after all, the Sunday supplements have all been instructed to say it's
about the size of a DC-9) and how much it would cost to make this
happen in the first place?
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Date: 19 Nov 1981 23:04:09-PST
From: E.jeffc at Berkeley
To: v.space@Berkeley
Subject: The fictitious NAA and its Sky Shuttle
The NAA and its Sky Shuttle, obviously a reference to NASA and
the Space Shuttle, is not a valid analogy. The reason is simple:
it is very easy to build a scale model of a bridge out of balsa
wood, but you must use a qualitatively different material when
building the real thing. In case you didn't follow that, I'll
rephrase it: scale is very important.
There is a very real difference in scale between the fictic-
tious Sky Shuttle, an airplane, and the Space Shuttle, a space
ship. An airplane is such a simple device, in its most primitive
form, that one can be built single-handedly with the resources
available to a single person. Thus, the Wright brothers were able
to pioneer in the field without any financial backing. The Space
Shuttle, on the other hand, is one of the most complex machines
ever built by man to date (even if it will look hopelessly primi-
tive some day in the future).
The moral of the Sky Shuttle scenario is that space travel
would be better developed by tinkers working in their backyards,
or, more realistically, by major corporations. However, the simple
fact is that the Space Shuttle is too complex a machine to be
/developed/ by any corporation existing today. NO company has the
financial resources to plunge billions of dollars into something
that will take decades to pay itself off. I am willing to concede,
however, that once space travel has been FIRMLY ESTABLISHED,
private enterprise will be running the space ships under the
equivalent of the airlines' air traffic control system, and I do
support NASA's plan to eventually sell its shuttles.
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Date: 20 November 1981 05:15-EST
From: Jerry E. Pournelle <POURNE MIT-MC AT>
Subject: Bibliography on Space Colonization
To: A.exp at UCB-C70
cc: SPACE at MIT-MC
There is one other book on space colonies and uses of space left
out of the bibliography.
A Step Farther Out
by (ahem) J. E. Pournelle
Ace Books
is still in print and does say a few things on the subject.
Also, the report of the Citizens Advisory Council on National
Space Policy is available at $5.00 from the L-5 Society, 1620 E
Elm, Tucson AZ 85719; it contains a whack of a lot of
conclusions and data on a space plan for the US (produced at a
meeting in spring of 1981 attended by some 50 top space people;
written up by a bunch of science fiction writers working with
people like Thomas Paine and David Crisswell..
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End of SPACE Digest
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