Comments on: Open Your Window http://www.blogcoven.com/wp/2010/01/18/open-your-window/ Back once again with the renegade master. Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:04:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Dixie http://www.blogcoven.com/wp/2010/01/18/open-your-window/comment-page-1/#comment-90120 Dixie Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:19:48 +0000 http://www.blogcoven.com/wp/?p=420#comment-90120 The thing about old shuttles is that they need a lot of care and attention. You must build rockets for them, and if you want to bring it back you will need to have a look at the heat shield. As for the cost of the space race, my guess is that it's like many other cutting edge things -- it will eventually become cheap enough, once we become clever enough to deal with it cheaply. And what does it need to be in order to be practical? Return trips? One-way colonization? Interstellar communication and data collection via relay satellites? The thing about old shuttles is that they need a lot of care and attention. You must build rockets for them, and if you want to bring it back you will need to have a look at the heat shield.

As for the cost of the space race, my guess is that it’s like many other cutting edge things — it will eventually become cheap enough, once we become clever enough to deal with it cheaply. And what does it need to be in order to be practical? Return trips? One-way colonization? Interstellar communication and data collection via relay satellites?

]]> By: uber http://www.blogcoven.com/wp/2010/01/18/open-your-window/comment-page-1/#comment-89954 uber Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:49:47 +0000 http://www.blogcoven.com/wp/?p=420#comment-89954 The failure of concorde is interesting. It seems like it was just too inefficient, and the time saved in crossing the atlantic so fast probably wasn't compensated by the cost and the time you spend in airports before the flight. It always appeared to be an extreme extravagance. I wonder about our journey to space: is it really affordable? There are lots of somewhat-distant imperatives for space exploration, but I wonder is the whole idea, like concorde, just too extravagant to be practical? The failure of concorde is interesting. It seems like it was just too inefficient, and the time saved in crossing the atlantic so fast probably wasn’t compensated by the cost and the time you spend in airports before the flight. It always appeared to be an extreme extravagance.

I wonder about our journey to space: is it really affordable? There are lots of somewhat-distant imperatives for space exploration, but I wonder is the whole idea, like concorde, just too extravagant to be practical?

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