Re: On the Nature of Exploration

From: Edward Wright (edwright2000_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 07/22/04 

Date: 21 Jul 2004 23:07:16 -0700

daveon@gmail.com (Dave O'Neill) wrote in message news:<688c9efc.0407200059.16a52a8b@posting.google.com>...

> It's a fun vehicle, built for a specific purpose and it looks cool.
> Looks like a certain insurance company are going to lose a bet.
>
> However, it's built for a specific purpose, the X Prize. It is not
> orbital, it doesn't have to worry about a lot of *hard* stuff, like
> moving at 9000m/s rather than 900(ish)m/s - that's a lot of energy
> missing from the equation.

The first airplanes didn't fly at hundreds of miles per hour. They
didn't cruise at thousands of feet. They didn't carry hundreds of
people or tons of cargo. They didn't do any of the "hard" stuff. There
was a lot of energy missing from that equation.

Thus, it was unrealistic to expect airplanes would improve. They would
never be more than fun machines built for a specific purpose and cool
looks, right?
 
> There's no need for a proper life support system as it doesn't spend
> any time to speak of, in space.

That would be true, except for the fact that it spends over an hour
climbing to the launch altitude. For that reason, SpaceShip One needs
(and has) a "proper" life-support system.

You should check your facts before making absolute statements.

> He did not and has not demonstrated we can do the same for orbital
> vehicles at similar price points and I'm still not convinced that he
> will, it wasn't what he was trying to show with this vehicle.

He hasn't gotten to Alpha Centauri yet, either. So what?

With your attitude, there's no point in doing anything, because
there's always something more ambitious that you could do, and that
thing is probably impossible because you haven't done it yet. Why even
bother getting out of bed in the morning?

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