New Mars Forums

Russia says lots of things, but that rarely results in functional hardware. All that oil revenue does seem to be doing them any good.

Anything assembled in pieces small enough to be lofted by a Russian rocket is going to be too small to go beyond lunar space, and too many of them will flex too much on interplanetary trips from acceleration and aerobreaking.

The future is in converting the large diameter spent heavy lift stages like skylab was. Depending on how these are put together on prior to launch, I don't think this will require much in the way of external orbital assembly that can not be supported by the craft itself.

Most of the things listed were also things that the private sector would have little to no interest in anyway, either because its impossible do to massive goverment regulation, or because such a project would not be profitable if the company had to foot the bill all by itself. But once the goverment invest in the infrastructure, people find new ways to use it that didn't exist before, and the country as a whole prospers. Take the TVA, there was no technical reason power could not have been provided, but the power company concluded there were not enough customers to be worth the investment. Also, private industry didn't care about the seasonal flooding, cause they could afford to build on higher ground. But once the money was spent and the job done, the region was far more productive for all parties. Same for the Eisenhower Interstate. I think that it was far better for (nearly) all parties when the railroads were built to a common gauge and spread to cover a little more than just were the owners could make money when the goverment had a hand in it.

Much of the inefficiencies are the caused by various regulation brought upon the goverment by itself. Usually catering to the extremist demands of a handful of legislators and activist just to get a project underway. You got to make parts in one particular senators state in order to get his vote, or you have to do environmental impact studies to save the Horny Spotted Newt that no one has ever heard of.

If you what more efficient goverment, limit what it can do and make sure its the same everywhere.

Ok, what do we do about the acid?

Presumably your going to want to use as much carbon in your structures as possible, how does it react with acid, and what can we use to protect it and other materials?

If nothing else, I think its important to note that a manned presence at Venus can and should play and important role in supporting and furthering exploration.

What eventually becomes of the planet, of course remains to be seen.

Actually, money is just the physical representation of labor, energy, and natural resources. In the beginning, thats all a business starts with. Eventually, they go public, and people from all walks of life throw money at them to fund everything from college to retirement to their own business, to their Learjet. Things seem to go astray at this point cause the people in charge of this money can make everything from an honest misread of the market to criminal enterprises.

Social programs, by their very definition, enforce the will of the government upon the people, regardless of the will of the people. They breed dependance to ensure the current ruling stays in power.

There are basic infrastructure items that any modern functioning society needs. These are Transportation, health, education, energy, defense, law enforcement, agriculture and administrative needs that produce a physical product that individuals cannot produce on their own. The point is to enable people to fairly pursue their dreams.

The only things the education process needs is information and motivation. The question is what exactly is the information being broadcast, and whether or not its motivating. Is the information actually useful in the day to day effort to stay alive. Education systems can teach you a trade that you enjoy, but what happens when that industry fails for whatever reason for whatever period of time. Are you equipped to fend for yourself? The three R's won't put food on the table and a roof over the table all by themselves. The inevitable result is public assistance, which requires funds from other people, including yourself at some point. If the academics had put more of an emphasis on teaching people how to live instead of how to make a living, there would be far less of a requirement for public assistance, and the taxes to support it, and in paying less taxes, people would be far more capable of preparing for the inevitable ups and downs of the markets.

Notice a pattern here. Paying the proper attention to the infrastructure of life makes for a freer and more durable society. Unfortunately, schools in the US are turning away from the vocational education programs in favor for more traditional academics because its thought thats where the money is. At least untill you have to pay an arm and a leg to get a plumber to plunge your toilet.

Remember, goverment in its highest form, seeks to make itself obsolete.

Even if floating cities were technically possible, the real value of Venus is the planet itself. You will want to get the resources on the surface. The promise of creating a new Earth will always be the overriding objective for Venus. Solar shades and mirrors are the most effective ways of doing that.

That doesn't mean some interim concepts for floating cities are not useful, but I doubt they will ever resemble a colony. The most likely function is extracting the vital volatile gases.

The trouble is it doesn't work that way. In the US, the top fraction of one percent or income earners pay 40% of the taxes. The bottom 95% pay the same amount, 40%. Whats wrong with this picture? The rich do not use goverment services more than everyone else, probably the other way around.

You can't keep milking the rich like a bottomless money pit out of envy and jealously and expect them to still be here. Not unless you intend to invade the Cayman Islands.

Instead you have to admit that endless social engineering programs are a failure on the national, state/provincial, and local/city/municipal level and the governments only responsibility is that of physical infrastucture and material necessities, and not nanny state enforcement.

The best part is these costs are fixed based on population, and only grow when the taxable population does.

Why would everyone vote to give up more of their money when they can just take it from a minority?

What on the MSL do you think is so close to the cutting edge to not be worth the risk for the overall cost?

I question the Skycrane landing mode.

As for these new missions, it a simple matter of not having enough cash to work with, and legislators who don't look beyond the next election cycle.

Shows promise: Soft Pneumatic Exoskeleton

I've heard stories about folks from the ATK plant in Utah bringing home little bits of the SRB fuel and letting the kids smack them with hammers. You got to be careful get a good grip on the hammer or it will keep going when it flies back of the way it came. 

Have we learned nothing from our mercantilist past.

Larry, how is having a national bank that funds infrastructure projects be granting credit fundamentally different from the current system. Now we borrow from private and international sources to print money, resulting in debt and a valueless currency. With a national bank won't we just be printing increasingly valueless currency?

The heart of the problem is the fact that no party in existence, at no level of government, can get elected on a platform of living within its means. No level of economic idiocy is of the table for the people who want power, and are willing to bribe people with stuff they don't have to get it.

Democracy ceases to function when you can vote yourself the right to other peoples stuff.