Re:NASA not ready for dangers of deep space, auditors say
by jessriedel on Monday November 23, 2015 @04:59PM
(#10617631)
Unfortunately, the thing holding us back from space colonization is not transport, but the technology to make colonies self-sustaining (or at least net economically profitable, even if tied to Earth by an umbilical cord of re-supply). Space transport is a much simpler problem, and investing in it will not much help space colonization.
Re:NASA not ready for dangers of deep space, auditors say
by aggie on Tuesday November 24, 2015 @06:00PM
(#10624206)
Transportation is exactly the technology needed to make colonies economically feasible. And as you say, an 'umbilical cord' will surely be necessary for the first colonies -- this is also a problem of transportation.
It's still far off in the future, but we have to take one step at a time. One of those steps will be sending people on a mission there with a return ticket, eventually establish a continuously manned research base etc. etc.
So there still may be some utility in the long run.
Of course there might be other approaches to bootstrap space colonization, such as the idea of mining asteroids in orbit and maybe sending people up there in the process.