From: Adrian Tymes (wingcat@pacbell.net)
Date: Sat Feb 01 2003 - 23:05:16 MST
Lee Corbin wrote:
> I am still haunted by the point made by an acquaintance
> long ago. He bemoaned the fact that ordinary rocket launches
> into space deliberately fire rockets to keep the 2nd stage
> or 3rd stage (I forget) from going into orbit themselves.
>
> His point was that ordinary rocket journeys into space should
> if possible elevate as much mass as possible into orbit, mass
> that can be re-used to build space stations or other vehicles.
>
> What do you think about that?
Re-used? Pah! Re-used by whom? NASA builds its stuff new for each
mission, and would sooner see its detritus - spent rocket stages et al -
burn in re-entry than fall into the hands of someone who might actually
use them for something. (Unless you count, say, letting them gathering
dust in a museum as "using".)
Now, if you were launching your own rockets, then this might be viable.
But most of these arguments boil down to, "Come on, NASA, it really
wouldn't cost you much to leave the scrap up there for us to use," which
invitations NASA declines without responding to the arguments. Frankly,
NASA seems to be a little frightened by the possibility of serious space
work being done by Americans without NASA's involvement, which twists
this argument from their point of view into something like, "Come on,
NASA, it really wouldn't cost you much to just leave these knives where
we can grab them so we can stab you to death." So of course they're
going to say no without even considering the merits, until and unless
one can convince them to support NASA-less American space in the first
place, which is a tough sell since it would most likely lead to a
diminished NASA (or, from our point of view, a non-bloated NASA - but
remember it's their point of view, not ours, that determines their
actions).
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