A habit of thinking about the engineering first and the customers second is a perennial problem in the space industry, says Jim Baker, director of the commercial-sector efforts of the Houston-based aerospace firm MEI Technologies. The industry has many times been guilty of "pushing our solutions onto a market that doesn't quite exist yet," Baker says.
Here is a very interesting article that addresses the very issue I started this thread to discuss and brainstorm around.http://www.technologyreview.com/business/26263/QuoteA habit of thinking about the engineering first and the customers second is a perennial problem in the space industry, says Jim Baker, director of the commercial-sector efforts of the Houston-based aerospace firm MEI Technologies. The industry has many times been guilty of "pushing our solutions onto a market that doesn't quite exist yet," Baker says.That, folks, is an arrow to the heart shot... and a call to action for us to ignite our native entrepreneurial impulses.
The problem is that the overcapacity won't last because without launches, the excess capacity will go away. We're looking at a case of 'use it or lose it'. To me, the important question is how do we utilize this capacity so that it does not go away?
The government is the only magic demand generator. And the magic ingredient to unlocking unlimited demand generation is war.What we need is a war against some space bugs.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 02/25/2011 09:23 pmThe government is the only magic demand generator. And the magic ingredient to unlocking unlimited demand generation is war.What we need is a war against some space bugs.There are no space bugs to wage war against, but there are true space threats (Earth impactor asteroids, comets) and there are military applications which could require oodles of satellites (Space Based Radar, Brilliant Pebbles, Project Thor).
Quote from: edkyle99 on 02/25/2011 02:19 pmQuote from: gospacex on 02/25/2011 02:07 amAgain, why do you think that humans = Ed Kyle clones (emotionally)?Do you realize that many people never heard a bullfrog and they feel perfectly fine?We're not talking about just visiting someplace off of our planet. We're talking about starting a new planet. Sure, there may be people willing to spend the remainder of their lives in a dead, sterile environment, but the vast majority of regular human beings would not.I think you're speaking for yourself when you insist that a city without pests is a "dead, sterile environment". The sort of space habitat we're talking about could be something like the stereotypical pictures of a Bernal Sphere or a Stanford Torus. A vibrant city with grass and trees as well as lots of living breathing people.The vast majority of regular human beings would not think "dead, sterile environment" when they see the interior of a Bernal Sphere.
Quote from: gospacex on 02/25/2011 02:07 amAgain, why do you think that humans = Ed Kyle clones (emotionally)?Do you realize that many people never heard a bullfrog and they feel perfectly fine?We're not talking about just visiting someplace off of our planet. We're talking about starting a new planet. Sure, there may be people willing to spend the remainder of their lives in a dead, sterile environment, but the vast majority of regular human beings would not.
Again, why do you think that humans = Ed Kyle clones (emotionally)?Do you realize that many people never heard a bullfrog and they feel perfectly fine?
Who gets to decide what a pest is and is not?
We're not talking about just visiting someplace off of our planet. We're talking about starting a new planet. Sure, there may be people willing to spend the remainder of their lives in a dead, sterile environment, but the vast majority of regular human beings would not. I wonder how long this Nerd Planet you describe would survive... - Ed Kyle
Well, you are both addressing the same motivator, FEAR.
So I guess I'm hoping that the answer to "Why Space?" is not based on some sort of short term threat.
Quote from: IsaacKuo on 02/25/2011 02:38 pmI think you're speaking for yourself when you insist that a city without pests is a "dead, sterile environment". The sort of space habitat we're talking about could be something like the stereotypical pictures of a Bernal Sphere or a Stanford Torus. A vibrant city with grass and trees as well as lots of living breathing people.How do you grow gardens, or crop fields, without biotic pollination?http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/documents/factsheet_pollinator.pdfIs a bee a "pest"? What about "hummingbirds, bats, and small mammals such as mice .... insects like beetles, ... ants, wasps, butterflies and moths"?Who gets to decide what a pest is and is not?
I think you're speaking for yourself when you insist that a city without pests is a "dead, sterile environment". The sort of space habitat we're talking about could be something like the stereotypical pictures of a Bernal Sphere or a Stanford Torus. A vibrant city with grass and trees as well as lots of living breathing people.
By "most" countries, I was being facetious.
Quote from: edkyle99 on 02/22/2011 07:14 pmI can't imagine living without all of these critters ... to become an acceptable human landscape.Correction. "To become an acceptable Ed Kyle landscape".
I can't imagine living without all of these critters ... to become an acceptable human landscape.
...if you ever find that one of your garden modules does get infested with something really nasty by accident, all you have to do is vent it to vacuum, expose the module to pure sunlight and remove the rad shielding for a week. The lack of oxygen, combined with the extremes of temperature and also the radiation environment will thoroughly sterilize any soil you have, without doing any permanent harm to it. Once you button the system back up again, you can re-plant and try another mix of species, without fear of contamination from the previous attempt.
Plausibly, some panel of scientists and engineers regulate and manage the ecosystem of free roaming species within the main habitat.
It's not about 'it', singular. Its about 'those', plural inclusive.