Thursday, November 4, 2010

Odds and Ends on the subject of space

Space humor: sometimes the joke is on you, catch the one about VOIR pronounced voyeur.

Here is an interesting youtube video of colonizing space, also ditto for the moon.
And a discussion about colonizing space.

Here is an excerpt from the book The Colonization of Space, by Gerard K. O'Neil.

One of the proposed destinations for the manned space program is Lagrangian points.
I like the idea.  What could be even more interesting is if you can put a Parkin device
in a L4 or L5 Lagrangian point.  That is, if the Parkin device is a viable propulsion
concept.  You could even launch the hardware for this by using a Parkin device on
the ground.  Put it into low Earth orbit, then use a conventional space rocket to take
it to a Lagrangian point.  I am not sure, but from what I read about Parkin's device, it
could be a powerful way to send cargo and possibly crew on long range missions.  It
would not require large amounts of fuel.  The fuel could be mined from the Moon or
from Asteroids.  Or perhaps sent from the ground.

While I am at it, my opinion about US space policy -with respect to a mission to Mars-
is that it is too ambitious.   The actual mission to Mars would require upward to ten
separate launches just to get the mission set up.  If any of these go wrong, the entire
mission is in jeopardy.  It would be far simpler and less risky to keep policy on a
more modest level until such time that a better propulsion system is invented.

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