Re: starship-design: FTL travel

[Curtis Manges <clmanges@worldnet.att.net>]

    L. Parker wrote:
> > >  Has anybody even considered it? Living areas require volume
> > >  construction, and that type of construction has to be done some
> > >  time in space. You get me into space and I will prove that one man
> > >  could do it.
>
> Yep, considering it right now....
>
> >
> > Unless your building something huge its a wast of time.
>
> Nope, you can prefab small too.
>
> > Easier to prefab it
> > in major parts, and launch and dock the parts.  Far easier.
>
> Nope, mine it, smelt it and manufacture it in space, the only launch costs
> art for initial equipment boost, personnel rotation and consumables.
> Boosting prefab housing or anything else is just perpetuating the problem.
> We NEED the industry in orbit, not on the ground.

Thank you, Lee, I was going to mention this and you beat me to it. Once you
 get enough stuff up to make one, you can build an automated factory for
 your structural steel shapes. Power it with solar, feed asteroid iron in,
 and it could extrude your choice of structural section to indefinite length.
 Weld the stuff up to any size you like. You could even roll it into curves for making cylinders and such.
Welding should be easy; I used to do it for a living, and the biggest problem
 (down here) is keeping the oxygen away from the weld puddle. However, I
 don't know how a weld puddle would behave in zero gee; that may not be too bad either, though, since I learned to weld overhead.
Once you've gotten to this point, you'll also have access to cometary ice
 for water, hence oxy and hydrogen for breathing and fuel. 
All the materials we need are out there, including C, N, S, etc for plastics
 and such, plus free power; the tough part will be getting out there to get
 at them. I see the hardest thing at that point being food. I don't know
 if gardening would work in zero gee, but what the hell, you could grow some
 _very_ tall beanstalks on Luna. :-)  And, of course you could spin a cylinder
 . . .
> >
>
> > If you want something office building sized you could inflate
>
> > a structure
>
> > that size, or larger and asemble it in it.  Harder though.
>
>
> If you want something office building size, you tow a convenient asteroid
>
> into position and hollow it out.

Throw an engine on it and you've got another ship.
> > >The earth sucks... no law of gravity. You are right there.
>
> > The system as
>
> > >I see
>
> > >it does not provide a system that would let small companies develop
>
> > >space transportation. I build a personal space/plane but can't get a
>
> > >permit
>
> > >to test or fly it.
>
> >
>
> > Sure you can.  Several groups are doing so now.  FAA is
>
> > working to adapt
>
> > their rules for comercial space plane dev now.
>
>
> They are working on the RULES just as Kelly says. Right now, at this very
>
> moment, you can launch your space plane. You cannot return it to American
>
> air space however. Now if you launched it from here and landed it somewhere
>
> else....well anyway, they are working on changing the rules so that entities
>
> besides NASA can return a spacecraft to American soil.
>