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

[KellySt@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/13/98 8:08:44 AM, lparker@cacaphony.net wrote:

>> > Plausable.  The big problem is figuring out a way to land ore cheaply
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>> > enough.
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>> > I mean most ore goes for dime to dollars per pound, even the cost of
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>> > launching
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>> > an empty lander blows those costs.  (An issue I'ld really like to
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>> > think of a
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>> > way around.)
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>
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>Make the lander in orbit out of waste products. It doesn't have to be
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>complicated or expensive. NASA has been testing these spiky balloon like
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>things for awhile and they work well. A two hundred dollar balloon lander
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>could put a few tons of ore on the surface every few minutes. Need to aim at
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>someplace large like Australia's Outback, Arizona's desert or the Sahara or
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>Gobi deserts...
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>
>
>Lee

spiky balloon like things?  Doesn't ring any bells.  Could you reasonably
build and drop safe ones for pennies a pound to surface and back to market?

Kelly