Re: National Space Intelligence Center proposed

William Mook wrote:
At some point the commercial sector will supersede the civilian,
military, and intelligence sectors in space development. When that
happens, we have to make sure that the commercial developments don't
come back to bite us in the ass as a nation, or a world. After all, a
colony in the asteroid belt could quite easily reduce the surface of
the Earth to molten slag while remaining beyond the reach of Earth's
military might.

impact.arc.nasa.gov/downloads/impactsdmfh101200.pdf


So, the seeds of control must be sown early, and appropriately to the
level of threat created by commercial space operations.

Fred J. McCall wrote:
William.Mook@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

:At some point the commercial sector will supersede the civilian,
:military, and intelligence sectors in space development. When that
:happens, we have to make sure that the commercial developments don't
:come back to bite us in the ass as a nation, or a world. After all, a
:colony in the asteroid belt could quite easily reduce the surface of
:the Earth to molten slag while remaining beyond the reach of Earth's
:military might.

Nope. No sane asteroid population would try this, since their habitat
is a LOT more fragile than ours. If they can get out there to have a
colony, we can get to them to punch holes and let their air out.

--
"Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar
territory."
--G. Behn

Oh, come now, gentlemen, it's a little more complicated than that!
Surely, the earth is no prison detainee central from which all must
report to before leaving the solar system! Is there no joy in your
hearts for advancing the science of propulsion to the asteroids?
Surely, you jest, William Mook! You have studied my posts closely
about the asteroid mining parts, but I wouldn't imagine that
this little NSIC proposal would have anything to do with that,
would it? However, let's assume that your case in point would
be just that - that some fledgeling colony of intrepid survi-
valists did happen upon the technology to crash an asteroid
into the earth - wouldn't that be the Wormwood that prophecy
speaks of? - And maybe that evil angel of light Satan is inside?

EEUUWWHH - methinks this has nothing to do with advancing the
wrong technology more than advancing the "needed" technology,
so why shouldn't we be altering the course of human history for
the better rather than for the worse? Let's assume that security
proposals always follow in lockstep with revolutionary techno-
logy. Would the accidental discoveries of Dynamite been in-
vented? Gravity? X-rays? Velcro? Maybe we're assuming that only
true prisoners trapped on an asteroid don't have the ingenuity
that pioneers have - therefore they rebel against the enemy
that sent them there - the whole earth. O.K. - granted - if
this was the scenario - but I don't believe that it is the
scenario or should be the scenario in the situation
just described.

Asteroid Mining is an issue that deserves a moratorium on the
subject, not only to educate the public, but also to prove that
there is a genuine need to explore "our area" of the galaxy, not
only for exploiting the use of extraterrestrial resources, but
also to exhibit the need for long term research and development
in providing an external sanctuary for "earthlings" in case of
major disruptions in the earth's biosphere.

In order for asteroid mining to be a business and career in
itself, it would have to depend upon the exploitation of re-
sources, such as primary and precious metals, in order to
facilitate the creation of trade and resource exchanges,
such as water ice (ex. from the moon of Jupiter (Europa),
aerogel made from silica-rich regolith (moon or large aster-
oid), space mining equipment, satellite technology, and life
support systems.

All of these prospects require astronauts to be exposed to
the hazardous environment of space. Therefore, the space science
of life support systems is crucial towards maintaining a work
environment. Beyond that, there are protective systems that
must be in place in order to preserve a back up system for
machinery and instrumentation if the primary one fails.

The need for making asteroid mining a profitable venture is
based on a new gold standard for the colonies of the earth,
just like it was profitable for explorers in the New World
to stake their claim for God and country!

Enter cheaper earth-to-orbit technology. The technology dis-
cussed particularly by you, William Mook, in your posts re-
garding the Orion technology, are invigorating! The technology
is already here, yet the forces that control our economy are
just beginning to take notice of the vast resources that space
has to offer: primary and precious metals by the billions of
tons, lunar ices, non-invasive, sterile work environments,
synthetic aperture radar mapping technology, huge non-radio-
active propulsion systems - all dependent upon cheaper earth-to-
orbit and orbit-to-orbit technology so that components can be
modularized on earth, and designed, assembled, tested, and
marketed in space.

Asteroid mining would be both a federally funded and private
enterprise. This is where the current balancing effect of earth-
bound private-industry-to-government ratios will need to retain
their integration so that familiar lines of communication are
not lost to isolationism. The aforementioned NSIC proposal,
based on your "seeds of control that must be sown early" would
be welcomed just as the original Fort Knox was welcomed in a
military installation - protecting the Gold Bullion and Assets
of other government Agencies. Sound better now?

America should stop showcasing, grandstanding, and sensational-
izing the low profile adventures of what has almost become a
special interest group with NASA, preserve the groundwork that
much of NASA has already laid, and move on towards creating a
much needed support structure for private enterprise to start
blasting industry into space.

After the asteroid is mined, other uses for the asteroid could
include utilizing the mineshaft as a storage facility or habitat
preserve in case a future in-transit rendezvous or emergency
landing was made.

The feasibility of mining an asteroid is multi: First of all,
we need a way to react quickly to an incoming asteroid if the
need arises. For that to happen, we need nuclear space propulsion
systems "on" and "outside" of high earth orbit for the Hohmann
transfer, as well for establishing a base on the surface of
an asteroid.

Secondly, regarding the exploitation of mineral resources, that
if there was more of a need for macroeconomic ripples, you are
allowed to disagree if you believe that the Federal Reserve sets
the rates for platinum, which it would not if the privateers are
the ones who set the price in the first place. Just because there
is "policing" or "fear" that greed will run amok on earth is no
reason to believe that the privateers are a bunch of pirates,
either. You can arbitrarily set the price of platinum as low as
you want, so the resource for platinum will then just "dry up"
without replenishment." All this means is that outside of earth
orbit, there are advantages to being closer to where the mining
takes place.

Perhaps most importantly, there are those that believe that the
earth is moving into a pole shift during the years following 2001.
The shift starts out gradual at first, and then becomes more
pronounced after a few years. What this means is that our Sun
is moving through the galactic plane into the oppositely charged
side of the galaxy. This occurs every 25,000 years. When a pole
shift occurs, the molten, metallic core of the earth tries to
shift its position. As a result, there are an increase in volca-
noes, earthquakes, and sunspot activity. The effects could be
catastrophic. Asteroid mining technology could provide us with
a way off the planet and to the stars in order to escape the
cataclysm, if it was to occur.

With some sort of extraterrestrial economic infrastructure in
place, the extraterrestrial environment becomes self sustaining,
and competition between the cost of earth-to-orbit and colony
raw materials, goods, and services creates a trade to be established
between the colony and earth orbit. Therefore, the colonies
automatically become self-sustaining and progressively separated.
It is surmised that only with an improvement in the fidelity of
electronic communications and supply of environmental resources
between earth based, orbital, and interplanetary trading partners,
can a healthy economy of extraterrestial infrastructure be
maintained. Without these direct communications between resource
trading partners, the earth becomes progressively monitored and
controlled thru excessive marginalization of profits by the
establishment of trade laws between international bureaucracies.

Yet just short of planetary revolution, the law of supply and
demand in an extraterrestrial economy will help to create
incrementally affordable modes of communication and transportation.
At this point in the trade of resources and technology, the law of
supply and demand dictates that both earthly and extraterrestrial
environments cannot become isolated from each other, as this may
result in diminishing resources, marginalized competition, trade
imbalances, scandal, and environmental disaster.

Naturally, there are obstacles concerning the bootstrapping of
asteroid mining. Lack of economic focus for a long term research
and development plan for implementing a much cheaper earth-to-
orbit technology with massive lifting capacity for a no-holes-
barred rush into the solar system; general ignorance of the
government, public, and private institutions at large about
technologies that revolutionize space transportation, providing
an awesome opportunity for expanding the free market economy
towards stellar regions of the galaxy; opening up an awareness
for reestablishing the gold standard as the benefit for adopting
trading partners within the solar system, as well as providing a
new system of financial credit between those trading partners.

So how is it that our vision has become so shortsighted, as
described by the current NSIC program? I contend that my original
statement regarding upgrading private enterprise (RLV's) to
competitive status with NASA will enhance the performance of
promise markets in this field, not destroy them!


"It's time to change derbies for Stetsons and kick some mule ***!"

.

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