GBurch1@aol.com wrote:
> Ultimately, though, I think a major propulsion module would have to be added
> to move the structure into a more sensible orbital inclination. As we
> discussed recently, the 51 degree inclination - what I call the "Cold War
> Delta-Vee Penalty - imposes a significant cost on getting mass up to the
> station. Ultimately, the most sensible inclination is zero degrees and
> that's where significant space development ought to be done, absent some
> magic propulsion technology.
Greg, we can't really move the thing. Recall that it would take more
than half the delta vee to move the existing hardware from the
commie 51 degrees down to zero inclination as it took to lift
the whole mess up there to start with. We would need to supply
nearly 5000 m/sec to alllll thaaaat stuuuuuff thats already at 51
degees. Inclination changes are a huge propellant devourer.
Like it or not, 51 degrees is where it stays. {8-[
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:59:42 MDT