[extropy-chat] balloon stations at the edge of space

[Adrian Tymes]

--- Mike Lorrey <mlorrey at yahoo.com> wrote:
> --- Adrian Tymes <wingcat at pacbell.net> wrote:
> > --- Mike Lorrey <mlorrey at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > I've got a better idea: combine this balloon
> idea
> > > with Orion. Ride the
> > > balloon to above 100,000 feet and cruise to open
> > > ocean, then, using the
> > > gas envelope as a shock cushion (you've got your
> > > orbital ship on top,
> > > your bomb on the bottom, or, better, ship at the
> > > nose, bomb at the
> > > tail) set off your nuke. This should give you a
> huge
> > > boost toward orbit
> > > while your fallout should mostly settle in the
> ocean
> > > in a highly
> > > dispersed manner, thus greatly reducing even
> > > incidental health risks.
> > 
> > Nice try; doesn't fly.  "They're POISONING the
> OCEAN!"
> > for example.  You'd need to either get the
> radioactive
> > material completely out of Earth's atmosphere
> > (including potential fallout from the detonation),
> or
> > reduce the political opposition, before using
> Orion.
> 
> Why? Imagine a presidential administration that
> doesn't give a crap
> about tree hugging protesters, or a NASA which
> ignores the miniscule
> risks of maybe a half dozen lives lost from
> increased cancer risk. Not
> too hard to imagine, is it?

I can imagine a lot of impossible or difficult things.
NASA might ignore risks to their own crew and
contractors, but they signed up for that.  Ignoring
risks to public health - especially public health of
other nations - is another thing, the kind of thing
that could get Congress to shut down the program or
(for blanketing other nations with radioactivity)
invite someone else to shoot down the manned space
vehicle (literally, if need be) to protect their own
people.

> a very
> minor amount of fallout (note that being a high
> altitude detonation, it
> will not be kicking up huge amounts of radiated dust
> and steam, unlike
> ground bursts) cannot possibly exceed the noise
> level already present
> from Chernobyl fallout across  Europe, or even come
> near it by any
> significant degree.

Ah, but Chernobyl wasn't planned in advance.  It was
an accident.  Deliberately doing something like that
is a whole 'nother story.  (And I am having a tough
time imagining how you could build, launch, and use a
useful Orion vehicle by "accident", especially more
than once.)