Don't reinvent the wheel

Why does the government keep reinventing the wheel for
new spacecraft?  Why not use what we already have?

I got this idea to put the Bussard device on a space
shuttle and use the shuttle to travel to trips in the
solar system. Perhaps even to bring back samples and
ores from the asteroids.

How would a working Bussard device help do this?  Why
would you want to keep the external tank and reuse
the shuttle?  The shuttle would be used for life
support, tranport of certain materials, and getting
a crew back home.  The external tank could be used
to store large quantities of useful stuff like ores
and ore processing equipment.  The Bussard device can
provide the power you need to get back and forth in
deep space and any other power you need to do useful
tasks.

The shuttle can keep the fuel tank on as opposed to
releasing it. This puts the fuel tank in orbit.  This
is feasible.  Nothing new needed to do this part.  The
part that gives trouble is what to do with it when it
up there.  This idea about using the external fuel tank
has already been debated.

The Bussard device might fit into the cargo bay.  Attach
it to the external fuel tank, and you may have a craft
that can be sent into deep space and bring stuff back.
The cargo tank has more internal space than the space
station now in orbit.  You can put a lot of stuff in
there.

How do you attach the Bussard device to the external
fuel tank?  I am sure there is a way.  According to
my conception of the thing, I would put it back away
from the crew and the shuttle.  This would be on the
bottom of the tank while it is on the launch pad.  You
wouldn't do it on the ground, but while it is in orbit.

The device would be attached to the bottom with the
shuttle also still attached.

Just keep the shuttle attached to the tank and use
the shuttle for life support in transit.  There is
a lot of cargo space on the shuttle.  You might fit
the Bussard device as well as a significant amount
of other stuff.  Once you get home, land the
shuttle in the usual way.  Keep the tank and Bussard
propulsion device in earth orbit.

Additional shuttle missions may be need to turn it into
a mining ship for the trips to mine asteroids.  You can
put a lot of stuff in there to process the ore while at
the asteroid.  Then you can store the processed stuff for
the trip home.  You can put an awful lot of stuff in
there.  The launch weight of the space shuttle is
mostly fuel which is inside the tank.  The ore and
finished products can be stored in the massive tank.

Heavy metals would make the thing much heavier (while
in space) but while in space, it would be weightless
of course.  Getting off an asteroid wouldn't take a
lot of power and the Bussard device would generate
plenty anyway.

The Bussard propulsion device could get all that material
back home.  Then it would be a matter of getting it
on Earth.  The shuttle could take some of it, or perhaps
all of the finished products.  This would assume processing
of ore on the trip home.

On subsequent trips, just take along the additional
stuff you might need to make this work even better.