[ExI] simulation as an improvement over reality

Eugen Leitl eugen at leitl.org
Tue Dec 28 20:04:05 UTC 2010


On Tue, Dec 28, 2010 at 11:43:36AM -0800, Adrian Tymes wrote:

> > See http://www.molecularassembler.com/KSRM.htm
> > and the NASA ISRU (in situ resource utilization)
> > program.
> 
> The former is a proposal that has no funding behind it, and no

It's not a proposal. It's a literature survey. A very good
one and one people here should read thoroughly.

> ability to attract funding.  It's going nowhere.  (The related

Very few people do real things in space. NASA is one of them.
I wouldn't diss NASA. It certaintly took harsh budget cuts
to make them attempt serious projects in areas of robotics
and in-situ resource utilization, but they're at least on
the right path.

> RepRap project, by means of comparison, has at least a little
> funding.)

You keep blowing my mind with these off-hand remarks of yours.
 
> NASA's ISRU is one of its many programs that it trots out to
> appease the public and claim it's working on the problem,
> then quietly defunds and kills off before it could actually do
> anything that would threaten its contractors' ability to
> overcharge for making stuff on Earth.

If you don't like NASA, just wait another decade or two.
The budget gutting will continue until morale improves
(or the patient expires). And the first guys in control
of the Moon own the entire solar system.
 
> > At this point, it's largely a question of budget.
> > There's a second Moon race of sorts on, Japan,
> > India and China (and Europe) being the main participants.
> 
> Getting to the Moon is one thing.  Industrial-grade exploitation

Semi-soft landing of >100 kg parcels on Luna affordably is the
most expensive and critical aspect of the venture. Scaling down
robotics and moving towards self-replication closure is a much
easier problem in comparison. One you could attempt at leasure
in groundside labs, and lunar simulators. If people do it right
it will be competitive, multi-team, and prize-based.

> of the Moon is quite another.

A journey of a megameter begins with a single step.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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