Basil Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 It makes me It makes me Some wonder why I hunger so for Solar HERO. It's because I want to pretend humanity did not take the smallest of baby step down the road to a future of hope and promise, then turn away and ignore that road because of a short-term cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Re: Solar HERO: And then we walked away, and we never went back Well, perhaps the Chinese and the Indians will take the next step. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Re: Solar HERO: And then we walked away, and we never went back Hah! At this rate, Europe will go to the Moon before you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Re: Solar HERO: And then we walked away, and we never went back The classic tagline is "NASA's Apollo program was the Gateway to the Stars. Next time we ought to open it..." Robert Heinlein said something to the effect of it is guaranteed that there will be men in space, but there is no guarantee that they will be speaking English. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Re: Solar HERO: And then we walked away, and we never went back Demonstrate a way to make money by going to the Moon (or Mars, or the asteroids, or...) and we'll get there soon. Until then, in our avarice-driven society, it'll never happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aylwin13 Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Re: Solar HERO: And then we walked away, and we never went back Demonstrate a way to make money by going to the Moon (or Mars' date=' or the asteroids, or...) and we'll get there soon. Until then, in our avarice-driven society, it'll never happen.[/quote'] Cancer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnaskar Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Re: Solar HERO: And then we walked away, and we never went back Never say never. Never is only a decade away. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9355479/ http://www.space.com/news/050919_nasa_moon.html Or you can check up on the progress at NASAs home pages: http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/esmd/home/programs.html The one good thing President Bush did while in office was agreeing to restarting the space exploration era. Oh, and Mars is next. EDIT: Project Constellation is the name of the plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Re: Solar HERO: And then we walked away, and we never went back Demonstrate a way to make money by going to the Moon (or Mars' date=' or the asteroids, or...) and we'll get there soon. Until then, in our avarice-driven society, it'll never happen.[/quote'] It would help if the Moon could conceivably have oil deposits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper-Man Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Re: Solar HERO: And then we walked away, and we never went back It would help if the Moon could conceivably have oil deposits. Oil wouldn't be worth the fuel spent to get there and back. However, sizable quantities of Helium 3 might be as a fuel for nuclear fusion that doesn't destroy it's containment vessel via stray neutrons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 Re: Solar HERO: And then we walked away, and we never went back Oil wouldn't be worth the fuel spent to get there and back. However, sizable quantities of Helium 3 might be as a fuel for nuclear fusion that doesn't destroy it's containment vessel via stray neutrons. Given we can't do H++ Fusion reliably yet, I think that may be a ways off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper-Man Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 Re: Solar HERO: And then we walked away, and we never went back Given we can't do H++ Fusion reliably yet' date=' I think that may be a ways off.[/quote'] It's somewhat of a chicken vs. egg situation. Reactor tech specific to Helium 3 (which requires far lower temperatures than Hydrogen/Deuterium fusion) is somewhat at a dead end without a more steady and larger supply of fuel. A potentially LARGE quantity of fuel is to be had on the surface of the Moon for a HUGE cost and payoff IF the technology can be developed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dholcrist Posted November 12, 2008 Report Share Posted November 12, 2008 Re: Solar HERO: And then we walked away, and we never went back This is why I think that projects like X-Prize are our salvation. Much like Heinlein's vision was of humanity's first ventures into space in the pre-Apollo era, the key to ascension to the heavens is a profit driven venture done by a private corporation. Once a private corporation is able to put a man in space, they'll figure out the cheapest way to do it, and try to gobble up every inch they can. This will start a race of sorts amongst competing companies, and before we know it there'll be all kinds of things going on up there. At least, that's my theory. Oh ya, and the Star Ladder projects will also be a pretty huge boon once those get off the ground (no pun intended). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted November 12, 2008 Report Share Posted November 12, 2008 Re: Solar HERO: And then we walked away, and we never went back Demonstrate a way to make money by going to the Moon (or Mars' date=' or the asteroids, or...) and we'll get there soon. Until then, in our avarice-driven society, it'll never happen.[/quote'] "Avarice" aside, any meaningful foothold in space needs to be self-supporting to a significant extent. Otherwise we are limited to transient stunts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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