Re: starship-design: Infrastructure in space [was: FTL travel...]

[Zenon Kulpa <zkulpa@zmit1.ippt.gov.pl>]

> From owner-starship-design@lists.uoregon.edu Wed Apr 26 07:44:05 2000
> From: KellySt@aol.com
>
> >[...]
> >> Unless you are productive, you are a pet.
> >> 
> >At the start, of course. Hence, until they became sufficiently
> >independent (which they will strive to, once established...),
> >you have two possibilities:
> >- to be profitable to Earth;
> >- to entertain it so that it is not bored...
> >Ehem, so we found additional factor besides profitability -
> >thanks, Kelly... 
> 
> Entertainment?  ;)
> 
> Even now most countries economy is heavily dependant on trade.  
> Usually they  dominate in producing certain types of things 
> and buy most of the rest from outside.  Can't see space being less so.
> 
Entertainment in a loose sense...
Making earthlubbers interested in funding something
in space not for (direct) profit but for some other reasons -
ideology, custom, fun, etc. See how many things on Earth now
are funded that way - from churches to TV networks...

[...]
> >> >> So if you can cut the launch 
> >> >> costs of empty frighters enough, you can sell oil from space down
> >
> >> >> here.  Global warming folks will scream though.  ;)
> >> >> 
> >> >One more reason to put the oil-hungry industry in space instead.
> >> >You will get an additional benefits: the industry in space
> >> >will rather use small amounts of oil to burn. That is, 
> >> >unless you are ready to ship up lots of oxygen from Earth... ;-))
> >> 
> >> But the oil hungry homes are down here.  ;)
> >> 
> >They will be in space too - but will not use it for burning...
> 
> What else do you expect to be consuming all that oil?
> 
Plastics. There is no other resource in space that can be used
to produce them...

-- Zenon Kulpa