Okay, so we're going through some traumas as a society right now. I don't deny it. But my conclusions about getting things underway to get humans living on Mars and the moon haven't changed much at all. If anything, I see the recent turmoil as a vindication of my consistent philosophy of doing important things in quick, decentralized, innovative ways that minimize the time allowed to pass before concrete, material work begins towards the fundamental goals.
Decades of studies before taking the first step is the approach of rich people who aren't motivated enough to accept the inevitability of sacrifice and get on with doing the job.
So I say again, there should be literally hundreds of groups out there working to create loosely coordinated programs to start getting material assets in orbit around the Moon and around Mars. These groups should be working on modular tasks like building food and building material reserves. They should be trying different approaches to motors, launches, and trajectories. I strongly agree with the approach taken by Armadillo Aerospace. A company, let us note, that now has twenty-six profit-generating orders pending.
What does this mean?
- Blog frequently and in depth. Not only to publicize milestones reached or funding secured but to disclose and discuss problems encountered, approaches changed, vendor performance, and other things that will help others move ahead.
- Organizations should do their best to have their orbiters and maybe even landers include telecommunications gear to make each orbiter a node in a peer to peer network encircling their destination along the path back to earth. (Okay, this isn't an A.A. thing, just one I that would very much like to see.)
- Small and fast is better than big and slow. Both in device and approach.
- There's nothing wrong with putting advertising on a vehicle.
- Don't rule out old technologies. Take a fresh look, since a lot of things got pushed aside not because they were fundamentally unsound but because they were a bad match for sixties or seventies NASA.
As far as I can see, there are a hell of a lot of common factors in settling both Luna and Mars. Seems to me that the communities of folks working towards both should not only talk to each other as much as they can, they should consider sending itty-bitty similar packages to both. I stick to what I said about, for example, North Carolina sending a package of barbeque, corn, blankets, and clothes. And if they get one project moving, it seems to me that the marginal cost of sending a similar payload to the other destination of the pair is low enough to justify trying for a two-fer.
I know that I must sound like I have no understanding of either logistics, space science, or the strained state of most state/provincial governments. I think that I've got a middlin' fair understanding of the basics of all three. Enough to be well aware that the 30 million dollars Sarah Palin and friends used up on luxuries for one little town is far from unique. Don't judge the cost by typical NASA ones. Judge by the Nanosat and related programs. Or, even better, Pongsat.
I'm going to keep saying this. The sooner we start the sooner we get results. We can't afford to wait for vast federal programs to get this done if we want to see space settlements and broader objective to be achieved in our lifetimes.
-Rustin
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