[ExI] rebuilding a saturn v today

[spike]

... On Behalf Of Eugen Leitl
...

> up on the subject from people who don't know how to do it. If someone 
> managed this is the 60s then therefore it *must* be possible and 
> anyone who tells you that it is not possible may not be a suitable 
> science and engineering contractor for this job.
> 
> Anyway thanks for making me laugh out loud for once!

>Do you realize spike is a rocket surgeon?


Well, actually a controls guy, but I have deep respect for those who do the
structural end of rocketry.  I use their structural matrices to interface
with my engineering handiwork, to keep it flying pointy end first.

We can build a new heavy lifter, but it will require a ton of money.  That's
the part I argue is unlikely to happen today, and actually shouldn't really,
unless is it used to launch something that will help solve the problem
looming over humanity: our energy needs.  Sending guys up there to idly loop
around the planet in weightlessness is answering a question we are no longer
asking.  We know humans can live in weightlessness.  We know what is on the
surface of Mars and the moon.  We know there isn't a lot of money to be made
on space, unless we use it to generate power for use on earth.

spike