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We space advocates love to fill up the other forums here. Talk about technology, mission architectures, precursor missions, colonization, terraforming..............
all that.
But it seems to me that the Political Outreach forum is the one in desperate need of new ideas and thoughts. Because the political problems and obstacles are a greater challenge to space exploration than any of the technological ones.
Thoughts?
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Find a need for cheap access to space that even the most simplest politician can understand make it a strategic issue and access to space will happen.
Talk about resources from space from the obvious to us Platinum to the shortages from Copper and Titanium that are beginning to affect us.
Chan eil mi aig a bheil ùidh ann an gleidheadh an status quo; Tha mi airson cur às e.
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Economic reasons will never get the public support the space program needs.
The American public has for two many decades heard about "billion dollar" missions and such that it won't happen.
We could be bringing back payloads of gold bars every mission and Americans still wouldn't believe that it was profitable.
The best things to push space exploration are probably tourism and nationalism.
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We could be bringing back payloads of gold bars every mission and Americans still wouldn't believe that it was profitable..
Well, you can't blame them, ever since someone calculated that if one would launch a shuttle, filled w/ confetti, and that confetti would in orbit magically turn to gold, it would still be unprofitable...
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The time that you will get broad support for a space program is when it is thought, not the domain of the super scientist astronaut but that of a job that your son or daughter can do. It is then when routine access and utilisation of space will get public support. Till then it is considered a pipe dream for the population of the world a thing children dream and a place where it has something to do with how they get there satelite TV.
Economic reasons are the best hope for the opening of space. The only other choice is that of military necessity and do we really want to go that way. If there is a necessity to operate in space and the cost of getting there reduces drastically, either by a space elevator or a completely reusable TSTO shuttle then you will get the support necassary. Actually with a need for more people to go to space then there will be more investment in cheaper launch methods. As it gets cheaper so you get more people able to go. This will promote tourism give the space hotels of SciFi fame a chance to be a reality and of course it changes public perception.
Chan eil mi aig a bheil ùidh ann an gleidheadh an status quo; Tha mi airson cur às e.
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Well I think this was brought forth before but here is a mass passenger thought for the shuttle. Convert its cargo hold into the mass transit passenger carrying vehicle that it could be to the ISS.. Then maybe the average joe just might be able to scape up the needed cash... If the going rate is a billion to launch and since the government can not be in it for profit. Then a 100 passengers would yeild a minimum ticket cost of 10 million each equally devide amoung them. That would mean that Dennis Tito could have gone twice for what he paid the Russians...
To do a fresh shuttle of simular design would brake the bank to fix what is wrong with this ones.. But they are worth a couple of billion a piece and it is such a waste to end up in some museum...
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To get cheaper access to space we need a system that is 100% reusable, Quick turn around with little need for large standing army. This in short is what the shuttle is not, It can never be the cheap means to get to Space it is designed wrong for that job. Its cargo capacity is too small compared to the energy expended to get it into space and it is too fragile.
There are a lot of concepts of TSTO shuttles that have been floated. TSTO reusable shuttles are about the best we can expect with the technology that we currently posess that would make for a good means to carry light cargo and passengers to space. There will always be a need for the heavy lift option rockets until we have something like a space elevator.
Needless to say all this is going to remain paper exercises until there is a need to develop it wether economic or a case of national interest.
Chan eil mi aig a bheil ùidh ann an gleidheadh an status quo; Tha mi airson cur às e.
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