Re: NASA gets SGI 2048-core Itanium 2 supercomputer

In article <ed269$475482bb$cef8887a$24537@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
david20@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Given the low gravity and hence low escape velocity of the moon this oxygen
could form a valuable resource to enable spacecraft refueling in cis-lunar
orbit cutting down on launch weight from Earth.

In order to reach the moon from the earth, you need to achieve escape
velocity (or nearly achieve it) which represents the vast majority of
the fuel you need to get to mars anyways.

So your mars ship will spend tons of fuel to get to moon, then spend
fuel to slow down insert into lunar orbut orbit, wait to be refueled so
it can again accelerate out of the moon's orbit to get to mars,

No you send the fuel from the moon to earth orbit - no need for any ship
wanting to refuel to go anywhere near moon orbit.

David Webb
Security team leader
CCSS
Middlesex University

Now, if you could manufacture the ship on the moon and launch the parts
into lunar orbit for assembly, then you would have huge fuel savings
because the only cargo from earth to moon would be the crews.

One needs to do the math on whether using the moon as a gas station on
the way to mars makes sense or not. If you need to have fuel for both
outbond and return trips, it may make sense to detour via the moon where
you would load the fuel for the return trip and then top off the
outbound fuel to compensate for the waste of detouring to the moon. But
wether building all the facilities on the moon to do that makes sense
compared to just launching more fuel from earth with existing cargo
launchers is something accountants have to look into.




.

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