Posts by John McClure

1) Message boards : SETI@home Science : Moon-based radiotelescope planned (Message 275476)
Posted 4 Apr 2006 by Profile John McClure
Post:
I totally agree with 2 through 4, although rebuilding heavy lift rockets like the Saturn V is not really necessary.
If we commit to building a space station that will serve as a launch platform, then Saturn Vs are not necessary since you don't need them to take you all the way to the moon. All you need is a rocket powerfully enough to take you to the station.
To make the rest of the trip, technology already under development, rail gun type perhaps, could be used to propel you to the moon. By the time we get around to building all of this fancy infrastructure, rail guns and stuff like that may very well be common place.

Decisions we would have to make before in my opinion that we would have to make before we would have a moon-based radiotelescope

1. Rebuild our heavy lift rockets.
2. Continue to fund a "space station" and actually make it a platform to as a go between orbit and the moon or beyond
3. Implement infrastructure that would require 1 and 2 where you would have "shuttle" craft to go between orbit and the moon.
4. An orbital platform around the moon with the same function as the "space station"

Then you might be able to put down a permanent lunar base and implement the infrastructure needed to construct the radiotelescope.

It might seem silly but look at the infrastructure it took to build the Transcontinental railroad.





Hi guys, I would like to pipe up here by saying the transcontinental railroad (TCR) was only subsidized by the government, not built by the government. The TCR was built by private industry with a money making stake in it. I see big problems for the future of space if we allow the government to take the wheel. The government is inefficient, bogged down with the constraints of having to please everyone and so on and so forth. Basically, if this is left up to NASA, it is doomed to mediocrity and quite possibly, failure.

What should happen here is a government subsidized project just like the TCR. Give any company building the infrastructure grants and long term loans at very low fixed rates to build the space ports, to build the space stations and moon bases and mining facilities. Then, when the infrastructure is made, the government can rent parts of it for science they want to do...and any private industry can rent berths and space station modules or other facilities for commerce related activities.

The only way we’re going to make this happen is to open the floodgates to private industry. Let government do it and the only space industry you'll see is the same expensive and exclusive one you see today. You and I will never see space because the government's involvement and over regulation and control will continue to keep most industries out of space and keep prices artificially high.





 
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