The shape of space to come

steve smyth — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:08:45 GMT

HMMM!!!
Wonder where Hawking got the idea RE "expansion is the solution"?
His advisors must have directed the visionary's viewpoint to the following.
see link by clicking my name...note date...circulated widely in 'visionary' circles such as those frequented by seekers of knowledge.
I am thrilled to have been of assistance.
On the other hand, anyone who would like to place a wager on Rutan's projected passenger figures can contact me by commenting below...any amount...any time...anyplace...

The shape of space to come

Derek Mills, Las Vegas, Nv — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:32:08 GMT

I love it!!!!!! Space travel IS the only way the human race can virtuly survive forever. Our sun will die, and so will the planets. where does that leave us? Well space travel has to start somewhere, and the private sector is where it's at. I'm 28 and I can't wait to see where we're at when I'm 48. WHOOO HOOO!!! lol

The shape of space to come

Rider, Houston — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:34:39 GMT

I'll sit back and wait for the rich to pay the development and startup costs and make this kind of thing affordable to rest of us as they have so often done...my sincere thanks to them! In the meantime, I don't think I'll waste my money on suborbital flights; a few minutes of thrill. I'll at least wait for an orbital fight if not the moon itself. It has been a life dream of mine to sit on the edge of some giant (undeveloped) moon crater, switch off my mic and at least FEEL truly alone. Might be a good time do do some creative writing.

The shape of space to come

Tim Rommes, Washington, UT — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:55:38 GMT

I hate flying but I'd love to see space first hand. I think the tourism field would be huge. Propose on the far side of the moon, wedding in orbit, I'd imagine they can make a relatively stable platform for stargazing, any civilian access to that moon base? And if this is privatized does that mean there won't be any whining here about cost?

The shape of space to come

Peter, Seattle, Wash — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:04:23 GMT

Sign me up for that $1000 ticket in the other side of White Knight Two! I can afford that right now! Watching a launch of SS2 and going up to 50,000 ft would be incredible!

The shape of space to come

William R. Cousert, Westminster, CA — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:51:35 GMT

Let me know when I can sign up for a trip to the moon for less than $10k. I can pay cash!

The shape of space to come

tomulcak — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:40:30 GMT

hmmmm... "we'd have a half-billion people starving"... uh, hey, guess what? we have a billion people starving... do i live on another planet than others or what? I guess we are winning the iraq war and there is no global warming... also, the check's in the mail...

The shape of space to come

steve smyth — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:19:16 GMT

tomulcak...brilliant...it's like the mind fog in a bad horror flick...spread it thick enough, and it's real...besides...none of the Folks in the story knows anyone who is starving...what's the big deal?...half a billion here...half a billion there...thin the herd...make room for more rocket racing, eh?

The shape of space to come

Steve, Fort Lauderdale, Florida — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:36:53 GMT

All I know is my personal dream of actually going into space comes a step closer to reality each day. I am now 49 years old AND WILL go into space in my lifetime. Even 10 years ago I did not believe that this would come to be in my lifetime. I NOW DO.

now if only we can get out of Iraq and use all those billions to turn around our economy...

The shape of space to come

Frank, Dallas, TX — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:54:58 GMT

"Meanwhile, NASA will be setting up permanent bases on the moon by 2023"

Gee, only 40 years after the first time they promised permanent bases. Wasn't Apollo 25 supposed to start bringing the pieces of the permanent base up there, and Apollo 30 be the final piece?

I'll believe it when I see it, unless I live to 2093.

The shape of space to come

Mike R., Sterling, VA — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:54:50 GMT

The idea of expanding off of this planet as a guard against planetary catastrophe has been around a lot longer than Steven Hawking OR Steve Smyth... They are both recycling the ideas of countless Sci-Fi writers of the 20th century and before. Expansion is not only needed it is inevitable unless we manage to destroy ourselves before we get there.

The shape of space to come

Mike, Garden CIty NY — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:17:54 GMT

Can we sell shuttle system to a private hands after it's retirement and pay "them" to take the crew to the space station instead of Russians?

The shape of space to come

Jason LaLime — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:02:21 GMT

We have already won the Iraq war. No, we don't have half a billion people starving. And yes, global warming is real and the solution is nuclear power. Please try to keep up, tomulcak.

The shape of space to come

Mike Moss, Arlington, VA — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:25:11 GMT

Allen, would you please remove the blatenly political and non-contributory comment from tomulcak? They serve no purpose here and there are plenty of places he can spout his drivel. I, for one, am excited that private companies are expanding into space. I second Rider in thanking people who can afford it for shouldering the development costs for these systems. I look forward to the time I can afford a ticket into orbit!

The shape of space to come

S.B. Stein E.B. NJ — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:33:25 GMT

Once we can figure out how to sustain people in inhospitable places, then we can take those ideas and use them to grow more food underground as well as better above ground farming techniques. We will also be able to use other power generation ideas and make them useable for small locations as well as in space.

I have hope for the future that my children will be able to make it to the Moon. I hope that I could go with them, but I don't know if I will be around for it.

The shape of space to come

Todd, Billerica, MA — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:58:32 GMT

I am either getting used to Steve's comments or he's winning me over... I'll go with option A.... for now....

tomulcak, you missed the part where space assets have been helpful to farming, not helpful to ruthless dictatorships that starve their own people like the many governments in Africa. But then many people only see what they want to see.

Right Steve? :)

The shape of space to come

AlanCB, Chicago, Illinois — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:20:02 GMT

Yes, we are winnig the war in Iraq aand yes there is no global warming. It was warmer one thousand years ago when the Vikings were farming in Greenland than it is now. And the people starving today are because of politicos not lack of food. We are not now back on the moon after 35 years because of the politicos. All they have given us is 5 dollar gas. Vote all of Congress out in Nov. and we can start over.

The shape of space to come

steve smyth — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:46:31 GMT

Todd...somewhere on one of my various websites it says..."brightening the future...one outlook at a time"...hang in there...try option B for a while...
RE Yours Truly or Hawking as visonaries...obviously I don't believe that human expansion is my idea...I'm talking about how it plays in today's context...I don't want a guy who writes a history of time without acknowledging that it's all made up by Humans to be making up anymore of our future...time does not exist anywhere else in the universe except our gourds...viewing the vastness with time constraints is a shortcoming of Humanity...

The shape of space to come

Jason F, Houston, Texas — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:03:41 GMT

Those who do not travel are destined to lose themselves. What? Feed the hungry? In theory - we would all do the same thing. But, in theory, we would all be communist. Some things on paper don't work out in real life now, do they? So - challenge the human spirit to overcome. Challenge the human spirit to be better. In the long run - it works out - always has - always will.

Ever notice how those against Space travel have the narrowest fields of view.

The shape of space to come

Frank Glover Rochester, NY — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:00:06 GMT

"Can we sell shuttle system to a private hands after its retirement and pay "them" to take the crew to the space station instead of Russians?"

Good as it is at other things, the shuttle is not a commercially viable vehicle. Period. No business case can be closed with it, no private operator would touch it...

The shape of space to come

Darryl Thompson, Prairie Village, Kansas — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:20:35 GMT

Seems like the world's countries could get together and divide the moon's surface among them. Then they sell it to fund spaceflight development. It worked for railroad development in the 19th century, why not spaceflight and moon development now.

The shape of space to come

Delmar Fairchild, Barron, WI — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:10:06 GMT

With the direct sun shine having no atmospheric interferance on the moon and/(but) less so on mars, we could have a Stirling Energy System type power supply to dig and refine minerals for space ship and space station construction on the moon and then on mars (by then, being farther from the sun, we will need to have found a stronger source of power).

At that point, we will have learned how to live in space, protect ourselves from the radiation and proceed on out to a "man" made space station just beyond Pluto where there is an abundance of raw material to be captured to make larger and larger stations.

In time, being out there and less inclined to go back to Mars, the Moon or Earth, the inhabitants would no longer consider themselves Earthlings. By not having any ties to Earth and Earth laws, advanced species such as would be out there, could send out no-return flights without inhibitions to the nearest star system.

Because ships built in space can be larger, not having to take off and land, the amount of equipment to build newer and better (bigger?) stations and ships could be included as part of their program.

This new species will have been brought up to go exploring with the idea that they don't need to come back to see their home, as their home would be where they presently are. These future nomads if they did come back to earth would be considered aliens. There are people who think that is how man came to be on this planet in the beginning.

I don't know and it is fun to speculate about such things, but to think we can travel to the next star system and come back at this point in time is pretty far fetched, but to travel out and not worry about coming back is a possibility. If only this opportunity would have happened centuries ago so now mankind would be ready to go, I could be on "the list". Alas, my age is telling me that unless we go soon, I won't be able to see it.

(By the way, Daniel Boone never was lost when he ventured out to the unknown. If he came to a place he wasn't familiar with, he would just build a cabin and call it home. When he explored his new domain, he often times found he wasn't too far off from some other domain he had or a place he knew about. Hence, he was never lost, always home and was very rich land owner.)

He would have made an excellent future space explorer.

The shape of space to come

Brit Stefani, Bland, VA — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 06:27:13 GMT

You know I hear they're coming up with a volunteer service to see deep space for free.. IT'S CALLED LOOK UP!! I don't need to pay 10K to see something a fraction of its distance closer.

The shape of space to come

steve smyth — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:27:25 GMT

Brit...love it!

The shape of space to come

Tim Rommes, Washington, UT — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:55:11 GMT

Oh Brit,
That's so cute. I just looked up. I saw a flourescent light. No deep space at all. I looked up last night, saw clouds. Looked up a few nights ago and saw stars, practically didn't even realize I was looking through all that haze. I've been out to the deep dark parts of the desert and looked up and saw a vast blanket of stars, so many that it was hard to pick out constellations. As I go from my office to the city outside (with clouds) to the city outside (clear) to the desert I get better and better views and can only imagine what it would look like without all the optical problems the atmosphere presents.
When some people want a really good meal they go to the local three star restaurant, others go to McDonalds. You, obviously, are content with a Stargazer Happy Meal. Some people have more discriminating taste.
Wait!! I bet I can guess what you're going to say. You're not a racist. Good for you.

The shape of space to come

Rob, Vandenberg — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:38:20 GMT

Ditto Rider, although after reading the posts it's great realizing people really do have a great deal more in common than not. (dreams or otherwise)

The shape of space to come

Carl — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:47:24 GMT

<b>When are they going to build a Lofstrom Loop?

This thing would seriously cut down on the cost and pollution of getting stuff into space, and it can be made with today's technology</b>

The shape of space to come

alexis piché — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:03:37 GMT

thats so cool