Possible Moon Base

[The Comrade]

the article doesn't say anything about it being on the moon, but in space.

[Spider]

My bad. L2 point. Check.

That's actually a pretty cool idea.

[The Comrade]

if you have something in space that close to the moon it's only a hop skip and a jump to land on it so any exploration there wouldn't really be a massive undertaking any longer plus you have the benefits of a station in space away from earth as a launching point for other places.

[Spider]

The best part is that this might necessitate a permanent transfer vehicle. I hope I live to see a spacecraft that is never meant to land anywhere. Just stays in space in the same way a ship stays in the ocean...

We could make use of these fancy ion engines for automated supply tugs...


Who am I kidding. They will totally cut the funding.

[The Comrade]

i kind of hope an asteroid comes out of nowhere and craters omaha or something. i think it's the wake up call we need to stop looking at space exploration as a novelty.

[The Comrade]

also

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Launch_loop


this is stupidly cheap for what it would do and would make having a permanent space vehicle practical as it would eliminate the need for rockets to ship payloads up.


of course no one will build it. ever.

[WizardfromOz]

[The Comrade]

solid contribution.

why is it nuts?

[eric]

Yeah I actually thought the loop was one of the few ideas that actually had feasibility and such

[The Dharma Bum]