Comments on: Economic Realities of Cheap Orbital Access

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:31:40 +0000

Interesting read so far. Of course, I lack the math to understand the principles, but I can get the basics of the report.

I’m still on page one, but this so far is super interesting to me, as I’ve been sort of off and on following the private sector space race, and am very interested in seeing what will happen.

By: Geof F. Morris

Geof F. Morris — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 04:32:16 +0000

It’s not a religious objection. It’s simple mathematics!

By: Stephen

Stephen — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 03:10:31 +0000

Limax: I’d say it’s entirely dependent on how much you enjoy Final Fantasy-style console RPGs.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 03:06:28 +0000

Not everyone has your religious objections to SSTO, and to not discuss it would be to leave a gaping hole in their analysis that SSTO proponents would then beat on. So, yes, I would put that in the “sad” column.

By: Geof F. Morris

Geof F. Morris — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 01:12:04 +0000

Is it sad that, about 10% through, I got really angry that they even considered SSTO? SSTO and RLVs just aren’t practical in today’s engineering environment, and I’m not sure that an SSTO is ever practical given the mass fraction involved.

Also, I don’t know that a “many small rockets” approach works at all. It certainly doesn’t for any of the scenarios I see on a daily basis. For an example: getting an ISS battery to orbit? 500 pounds a battery or so. We’re really going to put one battery in a rocket and call that a day? $500,000 for a battery? Yeah, the public’s really gonna love that.

That said, I don’t know what the breakthrough is. Chemical propulsion seems to have been optimized at this point.

[I like reading economics, and I obviously like rockets, but I quit after the first page.]

By: Sean

Sean — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:48:15 +0000

I played through the first one and really enjoyed, although I want to strangle the developer who did the underwater one. It is worth getting through to the end.

Still need to pick up the second one sometime (heads over to Amazon and the wish list….)

By: kat

kat — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:22:46 +0000

Hey, don’t forget that I work on space stuff, too!

By: Limax

Limax — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 22:44:55 +0000

I’ve started Kingdom Hearts twice and have not gone very far. With what you’ve played so far, do you think it worth finishing? Work’s been slamming me as well and most of the time I’ve been staring at the TV in the evening.