Private Corporations in Space.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Success! Maybe.

I am sure that everyone at SpaceX and NASA are now waiting with bated breath for the docking and the return of the capsule. Private enterprise will probably turn out to he the true answer in the long run. Too bad that Pan Am missed this boat even after all the nice hype in 2001 a Space Odyssey.

[Silur 3,297]

We'll see a private orbital station tomorrow ... or after tomorrow ...

  Edited May 22, 2012 by Silur  

[Easy Bakes 253]

It how its going to be done for the future,hopefully there will be more people like Branson to lay the ground work with out a right now

financial return.

Also we need to find something to exploit out there.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Bit of a hike at the moment, but how about asteroid mining? There might be enough NEOs to make it work. We also need some garbage men for old orbiting junk we have sent up.

  Edited May 22, 2012 by A Nonny Moose  

[Easy Bakes 253]

Asteroid mining is a pipe dream.

untill space based manufacturing is going at a large enough pace to support it.

there is still the problem of how to get those products to the customers on the ground.

[hym 358]

Asteroid mining is a pipe dream.

untill space based manufacturing is going at a large enough pace to support it.

there is still the problem of how to get those products to the customers on the ground.

There is at least 1 corporation that is hoping to be operational within the next 20 years (if I remember correctly). They are beginning the scouting phase soon.

[Easy Bakes 253]

we are now in a sort of catch 22. a lot of the materials required to build a space elevator would be easier to manufacture in space but we need the space elevator to make it easier to set up manufacturing. And as Moose said we need to recycle all the old debris currently in orbit.

[hym 358]

They aren't planning on developing any new technology for this asteroid mining operation. They are planning to use existing technology for everything (though some of it will be used in unusual ways). I'll see if I can find a couple of infographics that I saved about it.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

"OK, you guys. We've got to move your mining camp out of here. We want to blow this rock up."

[krbe 193]

Someone must go first. Someone must fail, but just sitting around won't make us move either. That's how we got the water closets; French noblemen no longer need to do their business behind the curtains.

I just sincerely hope I'll live to see the success.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Don't forget that failure is a learning process that leads to success.

[hym 358]

Or it leads to more failure.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Only if you don't learn from it. Some people, however, get to "Look on the bright side of life".

[Sgt Pepper 864]

I find this thrilling.

What would be funny if later "Space Environmentalists" start appearing. xD

[Easy Bakes 253]

They would never have any say.

Besides sloppy spacemen die, every thing on a space vehicle is recycled and not left lying around to break things.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

So far we've cracked into three really hostile environments: the top of Everest, the depths of the oceans, and space. Of these the last two are instantly fatal on the least slip.

[Ocram's Razr 963]

I thought I posted here already...

Well, this is wonderful news anyway!

[Easy Bakes 253]

They aren't planning on developing any new technology for this asteroid mining operation. They are planning to use existing technology for everything (though some of it will be used in unusual ways). I'll see if I can find a couple of infographics that I saved about it.

If all the manufacturing is in space then you would only need to have space shuttle like vehicles that would run and collect rocks to return to those facilities.

[hamsterTK 93]

What about orbital power plants that transmit microwave energy back to earth? Hopefully technology will reach a point where solar is cheap and we don't need something like that. But I can see some limited applications, like in remote construction projects, during natural disasters, or during military campaigns.

For a mobile receiving array at locations near coasts, large numbers of ocean-going oil barges or rust bucket bulk ships with their gearing removed would be lashed up. There's a bunch of crap ships like this floating around and I assume there is some market where they could be purchased cheaply if your company had the ability to take ownership and move them. On deck there would be a ton of metal pipes or something, and on one vessel there would be a substation. Then a big cable would be strung to shore.

Also maybe it could be focused to cook entire cities in only 2:30 seconds on HIGH. Like a delicious frozen burrito of humanity]

  Edited June 3, 2012 by hamsterTK  

[Easy Bakes 253]

What about orbital power plants that transmit microwave energy back to earth? Hopefully technology will reach a point where solar is cheap and we don't need something like that. But I can see some limited applications, like in remote construction projects, during natural disasters, or during military campaigns.

I think they have found, even in space with no air and bird poo to limit the transfer, solar power is not enough to run a big facility.

Nuclear is what they would use takes up a lot less space.

[hym 358]

Some infographics on the concept. (The same ones I mentioned earlier.)

One

Two

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Thanks for the graphics pages. Pictures are definitely worth thousands of words. The C-type asteroids may turn out to be the most important since we are now making some interesting Carbon compounds such as fullerenes and graphene. Imagine a cable of graphene strands being the track of a space elevator.

One of these days we'll be able to stop playing with Chinese fireworks.