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forumwhore 
Fear Me, I Am Change.
Group: Members
Posts: 3282
Joined: Dec. 2001
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Posted on: Jul. 15 2002,23:31 |
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In an earlier post, a member posited that the S/S is useless, just a bunch of dirty ice and unreachable resources.
I thought it would be interesting to write some astronomers and then I thought of SF writers.
Larry Niven wrote back right away!
Email quoted below;
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One can assemble an extensive library of fiction about the mining of the
solar system. Some such stories are obsolete, some not. These truths seem
to be basic:
Most of the wealth of the universe is over your head. A standard metallic
asteroid of a mile diameter holds most of the metal resources Earth uses
over five years. (I'm doing that from memory.)
It's silly to put most factories on Earth. Let them do their polluting in
orbit.
Once you're in orbit you're halfway to anywhere.
Larry Niven
-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Break [mailto:kbreak@kevinbreak.com]
Sent: Monday, July 15, 2002 1:58 PM
To: organlegger@earthlink.net
Subject: well hot diggity damn, sir!
I didn't imagine I would find your email but I tried and presto!
****** etc etc etc etc.
I wonder if I can find email for A.C. Clarke next.....
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Posting from; El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula
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Bozeman
Guardian
Group: Members
Posts: 762
Joined: Jun. 2000
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Posted on: Jul. 16 2002,00:32 |
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Build a Space Elevator. See Sid Meier's Alpha Cetauri (video game), which got the idea from Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars) Spce elevators are super-tensile ten-meter-diameter carbon nanotube/diamond gel tethers to a geosynchonous orbiting asteroid. It's so long, it gets you out of the gravity well of earth, for cheap!
Of course, they don't exist yet...
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It's the pop-o-matic bubble, motherfucker!
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Wolfguard
Flyswatter of the Apocalypse
Group: Members
Posts: 1696
Joined: May 2000
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Posted on: Jul. 16 2002,02:23 |
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Niven is a great writer and a great thinker. he is also a very nice man. got to meet him at a sf convention years ago.
Love his e-mail address!
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Fucknuggets flamed while you wait.
[url=http://www.teamwolfguard.com]TeamWolfguard.com[/url]
"screw the fireball spells...i got a case of WP grenades and a case of teddy bears!"
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Nikita
Princess of Darkness Spy. Assassin. Seductress.
Group: Members
Posts: 937
Joined: Apr. 2001
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Posted on: Jul. 16 2002,05:08 |
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| Quote (Bozeman @ 15 July 2002,19:32) | | Build a Space Elevator. See Sid Meier's Alpha Cetauri (video game), which got the idea from Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars) Spce elevators are super-tensile ten-meter-diameter carbon nanotube/diamond gel tethers to a geosynchonous orbiting asteroid. |
Oh man I love that game! And I love it even more when I get all the damncool technology. Oho yea.
Who's your favorite character?
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Mad scientist, sexy engineer
Who's yo Mommy?
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forumwhore
Fear Me, I Am Change.
Group: Members
Posts: 3282
Joined: Dec. 2001
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Posted on: Jul. 16 2002,05:21 |
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Right now my favorite charactor is Larry Niven.
If you click the link you may see why I am so surprised he
wrote back at all.
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Posting from; El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula
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| Post Number: 6
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forumwhore
Fear Me, I Am Change.
Group: Members
Posts: 3282
Joined: Dec. 2001
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Posted on: Jul. 16 2002,18:50 |
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Hello Kevin,
Of course, there is a debate over whether exploration of space is a worthwhile thing to spend large amounts of money on.
That debate is based on the question,
"Will space exploration directly impact (in a positive way) the lives of humans on Earth?"
Some argue that, yes,
in the course of exploring space thus far, we have developed things like Teflon, microwave ovens, heat-resistant plastic, and a long list of other common products and materials.
However, I look at these instances as side-effects or by-products of space exploration.
I think that the reason one sends people to the Moon and robots to the other planets is part of the continuing desire to understand more about the universe we exist in, and perhaps our origins.
Pluto is a scientific target because
A) it's the only major planet that has not yet been visited by a probe,
B) it's the most distant known major planet, and
C) as a planet it is different from the other outer-solar-system
planets, which are gas giants; Pluto is a small ball of ice.
Europa is of interest because it is believed that there are deep liquid oceans underneath its ice crust--and where there's liquid, perhaps there's the possibility of life, or at least life as we know it on Earth. The oceans on Europa, if they exist, could be up to 80 miles deep.
As I see it there is more of interest in the solar system.
With the recent discovery of large amounts of water ice near the surface of Mars, the evidence that Mars' climate may have been warmer and wetter in the past, and the controversial evidence of alleged fossil microbes found on a meteorite from Mars, the search for life--present or past--on Mars is still open.
Each person will have their own feelings and opinions on whether it's worthwhile to explore space.
I feel that it is worthwhile, as long as the lives of people on Earth are not negatively impacted.
Benjamin Burress
Chabot Space & Science Center
10000 Skyline Blvd.
Oakland, Ca 94619
(510) 336-7308
(510) 336-7491 fax
bburress@chabotspace.org
"That's not something you see every day...unless you're us!"
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Posting from; El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula
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Vigilante
Unrequited Lover
Group: Members
Posts: 719
Joined: May 2000
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Posted on: Jul. 16 2002,20:49 |
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Hah! That dude quoted Buffy the Vampire Slayer in his sig. Awesome.
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He says turn the other cheek, but that seems kind of weak
I just want to beat up, beat up the meek
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fatalbert
ism you is, or ism you ain't mine maybe...
Group: Members
Posts: 186
Joined: Feb. 2002
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Posted on: Jul. 16 2002,21:50 |
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I'd be quite interested in what Arthur C. Clarke has to say...amazing man
did you know that his satellite orbit design was later used by the states for communication?
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[i]So many dynamos![/i]
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| Post Number: 9
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forumwhore
Fear Me, I Am Change.
Group: Members
Posts: 3282
Joined: Dec. 2001
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Posted on: Jul. 17 2002,19:44 |
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Dear Fatal, I tried A Clarke and that guy has several layers of people to go through.
Maybe it was that movie, dunno.
I wrote about 12 people and I've posted what came back.
*Larry Niven*
ooh.
PS I edited the shit out of the astronomer's post for clarity.
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Posting from; El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula
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| Post Number: 10
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Necromancer
Ace Rimmer
Group: Members
Posts: 419
Joined: Feb. 2002
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Posted on: Jul. 17 2002,22:35 |
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i thought it was said
fat-albert
not
fatal-bert
which one is it dude?
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There'll be time for explanations later... and hopefully, some sex
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