Standing Bear wrote:
[Big snip]
Don't panic about a chinese space race. I suspect that if China really
gets going it will spell the end of communism. People are dropping out
of the party buy the millions. To many chinese who see the opportunities
of space, are also able to see that gulags on Mars wont work well. As a
citizen of a country founded as a convict settlement, Australia, I
happen to know that it can work but only if the govenor is a genious. If
a Mars Gulag fails that would be sad but what wonderful opportunities to
the free setttlers that follow to reclaim the ruin.
Frankly I think we can make a nuclear reactor that works fine in a
meteor storm. If meteors are punching holes in things then the last
thing the crew would be worried about is the reactor! Big bumper bars
will be easy. Just stick the bulk cargo out front. So what if the bull
dozers got a hole in it!
I hope all of our suggestions don't eventually prove to be just
academic. I just read an interview that the good people at
nuclearspace.com had with some government agencies:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
quote from webpage--
NASA's Project Prometheus is in partnership with the Department of
Energy's Office of Naval Reactors (DOE-NR) within the National Nuclear
Security Administration (NNSA) to develop a space nuclear reactor for use in
future robotic exploration activities. The Office of Naval Reactors (NR) is a
joint Navy-DOE organization having responsibility and authority in both
agencies. The Secretary of Energy assigned NR to partner with NASA in support
of Project Prometheus solely as a DOE civilian project.
We made an inquiry over current status in efforts to build a space reactor,
nuclearspace.com (NS) contributors posed questions to the agency responsible
for building a premier space nuclear reactor. DOE-NNSA/NR Public Affairs
Officer, Kevin Davis declined an NS phone interview request, but in a written
response to the following questions posed by NS contributors Ty Moore, Jaro
Franta and Bruce Behrhorst responded; excerpt of text below......
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
there followed a long obviousely scripted 'interview'. All of the 'questions'
appear to have been required to have prior submission and approval, and
all the answers appear to be direct from the agencies public relations branch
after being run through their general legal counsel. As such, most of the
questions are ducked and evaded by the interviewee, who appears to sound
like a classic broken record much of the time. The interviewee interjects
'probable lunar mission' or words to that effect into many of the questions
that the agency did consent to have presented; and then gives a standard
boiler plate denial of a 'lunar mission' over and over again. This is akin to
the old rhetorical game of setting up a 'straw man' and knocking him down.
The conclusions reached by NuclearSpace at the end were pessimistic about
our prospects and our intents concerning realistic space exporation. I tend
to agree with NuclearSpace in this, and wonder if the present administration
only wants the programs around with minimum funding to use as photo ops
and to show that it is 'doing something'. Even if it is wrong! It is
evidently not now percieved in the national interest to invest seriousely
in space, really. If so all our suggestions to this present administration
are going to be ignored until circumstances change. Face it, present so
called plans involve using some nebulous 'appolo' capsule of very small
size considering what might have to be done, and chemical rockets all
the way. No repair capability! If a micrometeoroid holes a tank and fuel
is lost, too bad! And if a crew is lost...throw up ones hands and give up
like the French in 1940.....as if this is the aim all along. But then the
chem ships will use a lot of petrol, happily sold to the government by the
oil and oil service people now primarily contracting in Iraq and the
administration high official with well known connections to that company and
its corporate child there with the three letters in its name.
The Russians, God bless 'em, have a better vision. The Russian President
said as much last March with an appeal for nuclear propulsion. Knowing they
lack funds to do it themselves, the Russians appealed then for international
cooperation on a joint venture or a series of them in order to go to Mars by
2017.
The Europeans appear to be listening. They are joining with them to
buy the Kliper. That little ship is 'cute', and it may prove quite practical.
If some of the above other technologies prove viable, it can be a platform
for a real shuttle all by itself.
The Chinese may be listening as well. They have sought out the Russians
for some close and secret agreements in recent months, many of which involve
technology transfers and weapons system purchases. The Chinese 'Taikonaut'
crew that just returned from orbit left behind a mystery satellite that they
are NOT talking about. It is no secret that the Chinese have military
interests in space. After all, it is the high ground. Look what we did to
Iraq with just photos of 'insane hoosain's sites.
For now we seem to have lost our ambition for space in a self fulfilling
civil service miasma of paperwork and 'mission-plans' with open ended
timelines extending to infinity, productive of nothing but 'cushy' retirements
for political hacks given GS-18 jobs for hatchet jobs done elsewhere.
And 'empire builders' that the civil list is known to be full of!
Such was our military-political establishment in 1957 with regard to space.
---- Then came Sputnik! -------
Only this 'Sputnik' may be a little larger!
And a little meaner!
And have a Chinese name!
And our government will act with its typical 'surprise'......
.........and the spin doctors will have another 'science gap'!
Standing Bear
We will go to space! The only question us under what conditions!
It IS in our national vital interest whether we effectively realize it or not!
