[extropy-chat] Re: Are dwarfs better for long duration spaceflight?

[Mike Lorrey]

--- David Lubkin <extropy at unreasonable.com> wrote:

> I wrote:
> 
>  >> He proclaimed that spacecraft *must* be custom-built, and that it
>  >> would *never* be possible to mass-produce them. And yes, friends,
>  >> he really did mean *never*.
> 
> Mike Lorrey replied to Spike:
> 
> >And someone like Davids friend
> 
> While I have friends who are distinguished astronomers and friends 
> who are apparent idiots, this person was not a friend, just someone I
> 
> chatted with once.
> 
> >As he is an astronomer, it is understandable that he only pays
> >attention to orbiting observatories. You only need one of each type
> in
> >orbit at a time of these sorts, he is right there
> 
> We were not talking about observatories in Earth orbit. The context 
> was missions like Stardust or Genesis.

Ah, probes. You are of course correct that having lots of probes
exploring lots of areas of the solar system would be great and really
expand knowledge, there are points to be made that each probe mission
calls for a specific mix of instruments, power systems, etc. However,
there is no reason that, say, a dozen different classes of probe with
modularized equipment could not be designed and mass produced to be
sent out in quanitites to explore lots of things.

The tough problem is that when you are mass producing something, you
are doing so in order to earn a profit by doing so. Making space
science pay for itself, such as geological assays and surveys do, is
the key to doing what you want.

Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
Founder, Constitution Park Foundation:
http://constitutionpark.blogspot.com
Personal/political blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


		
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