Re: Barack Obama Publishes His Space Policy

jacob navia wrote:
Mark R. Whittington wrote:
Senator Barack Obama has published a comprehensive space policy that
is conspicuous in what it does not mention as in what it does.
Unfortunately it constitutes a return to the 1990s during which
astronauts flew in circles in low Earth orbit and commercial space was
ignored.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/534707/barack_obama_publishes_his_space_policy.html


In that URL we find:

<quote>
Obama is in favor of "a bold array of robotic missions that will expand our knowledge of the solar system and lay the foundations for further manned exploration." The reader will note the verbiage concerning "further manned exploration." "Lay the foundation for." Not "do" or "accomplish" or even "pursue." For a man who aspires to be the African American John F. Kennedy, support for manned space exploration seems tepid at best, nonexistent at worse.
<end quote>

Actually, this is avery good idea. Humans have no place in deep space
as I have demonstrated in this forum several times. The problem of
radiation shielding, tolerance for zero G, and (above all)
the development of space hardware for life support that offers
100 reliability for long periods of time (3-4 years).

Until all that exists, there will be no hope of humans in space
beyond what the ISS offers.

Empty core and upper stage cryogenic tankage will make excellent regolith containers, and they can be delivered and filled robotically.

What we need is an equatorial commercial space station of more modest means, where solar power satellites and large space vehicles can be assembled, and then delivered unmanned via solar powered ion thrusters.

Once this infrastructure is in place on Phobos or Deimos or Ceres or some other suitable asteroid, humans can simply rendezvous with it, and have instant power, safe refuge, regolith shielding and materials.

The general idea is that pursuing this technology commercially will yield benefits to an increasingly overpopulated and energy hungry world.
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