RE: starship-design: Wanted: 'Space Depot' For The Rocket Builders

["L. Clayton Parker" <l_parker@cacaphony.net>]

The more I think about this article, the more sense it makes. The invention
of the aircraft did not happen overnight. In fact, taking into account the
development of the "Airship" (see "The Spaceship and the Zeppelin",
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/spacetravel-03j.html), there is a very strong
parallel between the development of the infrastructure for space travel with
the development of the infrastructure  for air travel.

Airships were costly and required years of government funding. Ultimately,
they went nowhere, but much that was learned and the technology level that
arose out of all of that spending (along with a lot of spending elsewhere
that didn't seem related at the time) resulted in the development of modern
aircraft by the civilian sector.

Much the same process may be at work here. It may take some time for the
technology to become "institutionalized", but once that has occurred, the
cost of space access will drop, because it will be using "off-the-shelf"
parts.

An example that comes to mind is the development of the Laser. I wrote a
research paper when the laser was first developed. I had access to lots of
classified data and reports. Nothing I found then would ever have indicated
the pervasive nature of the laser only thirty years later. Somewhere out
there, a similar "key technology" may already have been discovered. But it
will take time for it to work its way into the system and someone to make
the "aha!" connection.

Space travel, and space technology in general is still in what I would call
the "premature birth" stage. Its alive, its viable, but only with continuing
life support. It will continue to grow and mature until soon it will be able
to leave the life support behind.

Lee