SPACE: Re: Is the ISS a boondogle?

From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Thu Mar 22 2001 - 14:25:10 MST


From: "Robert J. Bradbury" <bradbury@aeiveos.com>

>Yes of course, but in this (rare) instance I was assuming
>no-nanotech. I think I was commenting on Anders' game setup, which
>sounded like there was no nanotech. My Asteroid Mining Robot also
>doesn't need nanotech (just lots of good microtech). We also
>don't have rockets that use TNT or C + O2 for fuel. Yes we have
>ion drives but the thrust is pretty low. I was basically trying
>to parallize the development paths -- we *can* go to space before
>nanotech with microtech (and if we are clever about it, we can
>probably do it without involving the government).

Indeed, in Kim Stanley Robinsons "Mars" trilogy they did this same
thing.
-------------------------------Spoiler Alert!----------------------

In fact they turned a portion of the moon phobos into a solid
rocket booster and when it was occupied by a force from earth and
used as a base against them, ignited this and de-orbited Phobos!

Brian

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