John Marlow wrote:
> Had a chance earlier today to put that Q to Steve Gould--and while he
> did not go so far as to say this doesn't happen today, he did state
You spoke with "Steve Gould". Steven Jay Gould. You *spoke*
to him? Personally?
I'm unwooooorthy! I suck!
Really? You know Gould? Im a huge fan of his. John I fear Ive
treated you with insufficient respect. {8^D
> Spike: Had an interesting chat with a NASA dude the other night.
> Turns out NASA personnel were in fact openly discussing the
> feasibility of sending quad amps on extended missions to other worlds-
> -Mars in particular.
Ja, well I would think they need 2 good arms at least, and these can be
carried with little penalty, unlike legs.
Consider this: from a weight point of view, a spherical pressure
vessel is ideal, and we know that using a standard payload fairing
with something like an Ariane 5 or a Titan 4, we are limited to
a radius of about 2 meters.
Nowthen, if our home were to be a 2 meter radius sphere, a
person of my height, 185 cm, the quarters would effectively
have only one floor: a flat surface with another flat surface 187
cm above that, since there is tremendous psychological advantage
to being able to stand up straight. {Trust me on this one, for
I lived in Seattle during the summer of 1983 in a "structure" in
which I could not stand up straight. Long story.} A 185
cm person, who might actually stretch a couple cm in the
0.38G, would find it close quarters indeed.
Now consider the previously mentioned Verne Troyer,
height, 80 cm. In that case, the 2 meter radius pressure
vessel in which he must live is now certainly still cramped,
but no so much as my Seattle digs. It could be divided
into three operable levels, 82 cm apart, with storage in
the extreme bottom and top. In this case, we might even
be able to send two persons, which would have enormous
psychological advantages, eh? A small person who didnt
have legs would be even more able to live inside a
2 meter sphere. Notice Im not suggesting *amputating*
operable legs, but rather choosing a volunteer who
already lacks these lower appendages.
> I told him someone
> (you) had suggested bringing new humans in test tubes.
Or a thermos bottle, yes.
> But of course that's not exactly feasible just now either.
Exactly why not? If we had a female version of Troyer,
could she not thaw and implant a frozen embryo, if
the subsurface farm works out? Such technology has been with
us for years actually. What did you see as the show
stopper? spike
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:56:46 MDT