Saturday, April 28, 2007

LUNAR WHAT IFS

LUNAR WHAT IFS?


1) What if we built a Mass accelerator in the Western U.S. to launch unmanned cargo into orbit?


a) What would the physical dimensions have to be for the Mass Accelerator?
b) What would the Energy requirements be?

b1) Would the power be Nuclear, Solar, Hydrocarbon, Hydrodynamic, or Wind?
c) What would be required to keep the MA operational through out the year?
d) What would the acceleration have to be for the physical length of the MA?
e) What would be the restraints be on the size of the MA?
f) What would it require, a Booster Rocket or a Hyper-Sonic Air-breathing engine to finish getting it into orbit, if so what size/rating?
g) What would be required to position it in a prescribed Orbit?
h) What would have to be done to protect the MD from the weather and wildlife?

2) What if we only launched men into Space in Flyable Shuttles that could return to any standard airport?

a) What would be required to make it work?
b) What style would we build?
c) What would the Power plant be?
d) What we do to make reentry less taxing on the airframe?
e) What would be required to be able to dock with various vehicles in Space?
f) What type of Material would we use to build the shuttle?

3) What if we created standardized launch packages for resupply missions to the ISS?

a) What would their requirements be?
b) What if the interior of the quadrants and of specified depth so that prepackaged supplies could be loaded by robotic systems and secured prior to launch?
c) What would it take to make this system compatible with the MA concept?
d) What if the standardized launch packages were of different designs so that totally different loads could be launched at about the same cost?
e) What if the launch vehicles were designed to be used in space as part of the construction of the Space facility?

4) What if we designed launch vehicles to be used in space to expand orbital facilities?

a) What if the launch vehicles were designed to be coupled together to form a larger module?
b) What if the launch vehicles were prewired with power and communication cabling to allow them to be hooked into the system as soon as they were interconnected?
c) What if they were also designed to be easily put together using the facilities assembly arm?

5) What if we required that everything launched from Earth pay for itself with a profit margin for the Launch Facility?

a) What if the equipment launched into orbit be paid for by the user and not by the tax payer?
b) What if the user then charged tenants for the use of the facilities for tourism, medical experiments, communication, astronomy, repair services for the Hubble, and medical facilities in orbit and other orbital equipment?
c) What if the facility user maintained an orbital “Space Tug” fleet and did orbital towing and delivery services between orbital facilities?

6) What if we required that all Equipment launches from Earth be stopped as soon as the facilities on the Moon were capable of replacing the equipment launches from the Earth?

a)
What if we stopped high cost lifts from the Earth as soon as Moom Facilities were up and running at a reasonable part of capability to supply the orbital facilities?
b) What if the only lifts then were high priority equipment and personnel from the earth?

7) What if we used the facilities on the Moon to manufacture the equipment needed to build the Space Elevator?

a) What if we were to fabricate the materials to build a “Space Elevator” at the Lunar Facilities and launched the components into Synchronous Orbit for assembly?
b) What if we expanded the Lunar Facilities to build “Space Elevators” for other bodies in the Solar System that we want to have the “Elevators”?

8) What if we built several facilities on the Moon for different purposes, Manufacturing, Astronomy, Research, Farming, Medicine and other things?

a) What if we built a facility designed to be a food production center, or even several facilities to insure that food wise the Lunar Settlements would be self sufficient?
b) What if we also built one or more centers for manufacturing and other type specialty centers, primarily to diversify the facilities on the Lunar surface?
c) What if we allow enough extra room in each facility that if one has to be evacuated then the others can pick up the increase in population on a temporary basis?
d) What if we laid Fiber Optic Cable between the facilities so that there would be uninterrupted communication between them?

9) What if we tied all of these facilities together with MagLev Monorail with shelter Stations along the way for protection from Solar Storms?

a) What if we built a MagLev Monorail system on the Lunar Surface to move personnel around from Facility to Facility without having to use ballistic methods and their inherent hazards?
b) What if we built Storm Shelters along the system to allow the Vehicles to stop and weather out Solar Storms if need be?
c) What if we allowed these Storm Shelters to bee developed in to prospecting hubs for prospecting the surface for more minerals?

10) What if we could think of other things that can be done on the Moon and/or Mars to further Man’s move into Space?

a)
What if the Facilities on the Moon were to become the leading research facilities for Space Exploration?
b) What if those facilities were to develop a Propulsion system that used Gravity or some other Force for propulsion?
c) What if those facilities were also able to develop a method for moving through space that used the curvature of the Universe to take us places that we wanted to go?

Craig

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