RE: RE: starship-design: YES, we might do it.

["L. Parker" <lparker@cacaphony.net>]

> > Plausable.  The big problem is figuring out a way to land ore cheaply
> > enough.
> > I mean most ore goes for dime to dollars per pound, even the cost of
> > launching
> > an empty lander blows those costs.  (An issue I'ld really like to
> > think of a
> > way around.)

Make the lander in orbit out of waste products. It doesn't have to be
complicated or expensive. NASA has been testing these spiky balloon like
things for awhile and they work well. A two hundred dollar balloon lander
could put a few tons of ore on the surface every few minutes. Need to aim at
someplace large like Australia's Outback, Arizona's desert or the Sahara or
Gobi deserts...

Lee