If We Can Put a Man on the Moon, Why Can’t We Put a Man on the Moon?

Re:If We Can Put a Man on the Moon, Why Can’t We Put a Man o... by TeMPOraL on Tuesday January 02, 2018 @01:42AM (#16050329)

An industry in space.

To send larger probes around the Sol system. To build larger orbital laboratories, LEO or otherwise. To build all supporting infrastructure for that. To manufacture things that benefit from microgravity conditions (like optical fibers, see [0]) to be used both on Earth and elsewhere. To enable large-scale Mars missions, including eventual habitation. To eventually access more raw resources than we've ever imagined.

[0] - http://madeinspace.us/mis-fiber/

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Re:If We Can Put a Man on the Moon, Why Can’t We Put a Man o... by phillc73 on Tuesday January 02, 2018 @03:43AM (#16050711)

If the benefit of manufacturing optical fibre cables in a low gravity environment was so great, would it be more economically viable to build a 'low gravity' factory on earth?

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Re:If We Can Put a Man on the Moon, Why Can’t We Put a Man o... by RikNieu on Tuesday January 02, 2018 @03:55AM (#16050757)

How would one produce low gravity on earth?

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Re:If We Can Put a Man on the Moon, Why Can’t We Put a Man o... by perilunar on Tuesday January 02, 2018 @05:33AM (#16051081)

Two methods: the vomit comet [1], and shot towers [2].

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduced-gravity_aircraft

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_tower

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Re:If We Can Put a Man on the Moon, Why Can’t We Put a Man o... by bonesss on Tuesday January 02, 2018 @07:23AM (#16051464)

You want to put a delicate-cable factory on an airplane and figure out how to shape all materials from start to finish in 30-second bursts while also compensating for turbulence, additional Gs on ascend, flight adjustments, and proper stowing for takeoff and landing? ...

Oddly, that's the more practical of those suggestions, because forming a few kilometers of perfect glass by letting it cool while dropping would seem to require a tower impressive in its own right... More relevant, there are QA demands with fiber-optics that don't seem to jive with a "let it hit the ground and throw out the lumpy ones" approach, much less the handling while in full gravity (which is where the issues are).

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Re:If We Can Put a Man on the Moon, Why Can’t We Put a Man o... by smoll on Tuesday January 02, 2018 @04:04AM (#16050790)

Go to its center?

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Re:If We Can Put a Man on the Moon, Why Can’t We Put a Man o... by lmm on Tuesday January 02, 2018 @04:55AM (#16050958)

Much, much harder than going to the moon.

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