[extropy-chat] MARS: Because it is hard

[Robert J. Bradbury]

On Thu, 15 Apr 2004, Alan Eliasen wrote:

>    A shorter accelerator (with higher acceleration) increases the necessary
> power dissipation.  A longer accelerator may be more expensive to build,
> (anything kilometers long probably gets expensive) but the power requirements
> are reduced.  [snip]

But *not* if you have either a nanofactory or self-replicating nanobots
to produce the accelerator parts.   Then its just a question of the energy
and materials that are available and the moon probably has lots of both
of those (though perhaps not carbon for a cable for a space elevator...).

Begs a very good question as to when they start yanking projects because
it looks like nanotech is really going to be feasible and the lifetime
of the project using standard tech is past the transition point so it
will just make no sense to try and do it before when it will be so
much easier after.

Robert