Posts by The Serpent

Eee PC, but..

..no friend??

OMG (literally)

Have a look at The Pope's name servers!

http://network-tools.com/default.asp?prog=express&host=vatican.va

Well done that council

Its probably a drop in the ocean compared to what is actually needed, but at least they have finally shown some interest

I'll get my coat

It's the one the Roman soldiers are gambling for

On the shoulders of giants

I think the problem has been that NASA went for and scored the big Kahuna first time off. Mars is the only way to top the moon landings and it's a very different prospect. No other planet is even vaguely habitable and it's nearer than relying on a regular asteroid service.

Trouble is, it's just the moon all over again. You go there and think, "Er, what now? I know lets get some souvenir rock". And that's all you can do for now, so you do it again a few times just to make sure. Then what?

The moon did very little to progress our understanding of the universe and there is no guarantee that Mars will be different, so given the lack of reward why bother? And so NASA loses its way, justifying it's existence by taking things into orbit and doing science to them.

The trick to get things to progress is stop everything being such a massive hurdle.

We have numerous craft capable of delivering the components for large and complex machinery into orbit. Good. Then use them to make the ISS an platform for building space craft. That way the craft built there don't have to to withstand launch from and re-entry into an atmosphere and so can just be good at transporting people and equipment through space.

Next, use the new craft to establish a moon base. It's the easiest place to start and you need to gain the experience somehow. Landing on and taking off from the moon is easier (relatively) than from Earth. This provides us with an easier base from which to launch a manned mission to Mars, ultimately establishing a base there also.

From then on, pick your moons or asteroids. Establish mines to provide raw materials to increase the existing facilities. Get traffic flowing in the solar system and make intrasystem space travel a commonplace thing.

We know we can do all this, it's just a case of extending what we do already. I often wonder what NASA thinks it is acheiving these days. At least this way we can do the same old relentless human expansion but in new places.

Babes?

I was here expecting babes, I don't fancy any of those sky donkeys

Good riddance

Always was a load of old cWAP