Comments on: SATELLITE 2009 http://blog.nss.org/?p=673 Blogging for the creation of a spacefaring civilization Sat, 25 May 2013 20:01:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Satellite Network http://blog.nss.org/?p=673&cpage=1#comment-1024 Satellite Network Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:07:11 +0000 http://blog.nss.org/?p=673#comment-1024 <strong>Satellite Network...</strong> Transmission via satellite is not affected by national borders and its cost is not distance-related.... Satellite Network…

Transmission via satellite is not affected by national borders and its cost is not distance-related….

]]> By: Tony Rusi http://blog.nss.org/?p=673&cpage=1#comment-664 Tony Rusi Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:04:29 +0000 http://blog.nss.org/?p=673#comment-664 Solar Power Sats could make alot of money and also end the need for energy wars if done correctly. Dr. Pete Worden said that he used to be a Solar Power Sat advocate in the early days, before he realized how expensive current rocket technology would make their transportation to GEO from earth. Lunar resources may change that equation vastly. Colossal Carbon Tube technology may make an Earth based stationary space elevator possible today. This would drop the cost of transport to GEO by three orders of magnitude. I really believe that basic research into the materials science of this novel form of carbon (that is about ten thousand times larger in diameter than the single-wall carbon nanotubes of the past) is the key to our national security. Windle's materials science research group at Cambridge is growing similar tubes at 18 mile long lengths now. Japan and Germany have recently announced efforts to produce industrial quantities of these carbon materials in the 200 to 400 ton per year range. America stands to be left in the dust of a "graphene fiber gap". What if China, Japan, and Germany have space elevators, solar power sats, and america does not? The next head of NASA should have this awareness. Solar Power Sats could make alot of money and also end the need for energy wars if done correctly. Dr. Pete Worden said that he used to be a Solar Power Sat advocate in the early days, before he realized how expensive current rocket technology would make their transportation to GEO from earth. Lunar resources may change that equation vastly. Colossal Carbon Tube technology may make an Earth based stationary space elevator possible today. This would drop the cost of transport to GEO by three orders of magnitude. I really believe that basic research into the materials science of this novel form of carbon (that is about ten thousand times larger in diameter than the single-wall carbon nanotubes of the past) is the key to our national security. Windle’s materials science research group at Cambridge is growing similar tubes at 18 mile long lengths now. Japan and Germany have recently announced efforts to produce industrial quantities of these carbon materials in the 200 to 400 ton per year range. America stands to be left in the dust of a “graphene fiber gap”. What if China, Japan, and Germany have space elevators, solar power sats, and america does not? The next head of NASA should have this awareness.

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