I am reading 'failure is not an option' if you haven't already read it (something tells me you have) highly recommended.
Its sad how the steam of space exploration and development got dispersed after Apollo. If it had continued at that rate who knows where we would be now. Perhaps even a small station at L1 with small crew... Thankfully I feel we might be in the beginning of a new renaissance thanks to lower costs and open source tech. Somehow the $/lb needs to drastically get reduced. There was a space cannon called project harp that could launch 180kg up to 110 mi. Its a shame they stopped it because the costs per kg are insanely cheap. Perhaps with todays robotics components could be accumulated in orbit.
Long story short, we need zero G refueling and zero G assembly. Next gen space vehicles need to be assembled in orbit.
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I am reading 'failure is not an option' if you haven't already read it (something tells me you have) highly recommended.
Its sad how the steam of space exploration and development got dispersed after Apollo. If it had continued at that rate who knows where we would be now. Perhaps even a small station at L1 with small crew... Thankfully I feel we might be in the beginning of a new renaissance thanks to lower costs and open source tech. Somehow the $/lb needs to drastically get reduced. There was a space cannon called project harp that could launch 180kg up to 110 mi. Its a shame they stopped it because the costs per kg are insanely cheap. Perhaps with todays robotics components could be accumulated in orbit.
Long story short, we need zero G refueling and zero G assembly. Next gen space vehicles need to be assembled in orbit.