tneff@bfmny0.UU.NET (Tom Neff) (12/19/89)
In article <Added.AZX=WFW00Ui382dk8M@andrew.cmu.edu> <FSKWB%ALASKA.BITNET@vma.cc.cmu.edu> writes: >As to the topic of "daydreams vs. reality". Getting somethin to LEO is >effectively getting halfway to anywhere in the solar system. (It's delta-v >that we're worried about, not actual physical distance. If we can send >a probe (either manned or unmanned) to Mars, we can send one out to anywhere >in the Solar System. (Or if you follow Dr. Robert Forward at all, even to >nearby stars) Halfway in terms of kinetic energy expenditure != halfway in terms of overall technical difficulty. Let us take a ham sandwich to Pluto, you and I; toss it into the payload canister as a whiteroom joke, latch and launch. LEO is achieved within minutes -- the bread is still warm. (I like my ham sandwiches on light toast. :-) ) Now all you have to do to get to Pluto is spend the other half of your kinetic energy and WAIT TEN YEARS. I hate a stale sandwich. :-) Seriously, the issues of long term survival, radiation shielding and maneuverability at the destination make planetary missions lots more than twice as hard as orbital missions. -- 'We have luck only with women -- not spacecraft!' \\ Tom Neff -- R. Kremnev, builder of failed Soviet FOBOS probes // tneff@bfmny0.UU.NET