From: vince@offshore.ai (Vincent Cate) Newsgroups: sci.space.history,sci.space.policy Subject: Re: $5M Moon Rock Stolen From Malta Museum References: <373a0bc9.0405211458.bde154a@posting.google.com> <9186edb5.0405250856.eeee6b9@posting.google.com> <9186edb5.0405260624.b0faebd@posting.google.com> <4d6b07f3.0405261021.5663547f@posting.google.com> <9186edb5.0405270445.7b321552@posting.google.com> <1085688231.56339@haldjas.folklore.ee> <9186edb5.0405272142.48605589@posting.google.com> <1085752590.703258@haldjas.folklore.ee> NNTP-Posting-Host: 207.42.133.252 Message-ID: <9186edb5.0405282143.7ee3dc3@posting.google.com> Sander Vesik wrote in message news:<1085752590.703258@haldjas.folklore.ee>... > In sci.space.policy Vincent Cate wrote: > > Sander Vesik wrote in message news:<1085688231.56339@haldjas.folklore.ee>... > > > [...] you need to do a many orders of magnitude higher > > > up-front investment. > > > > Because a tether system can be so much smaller, it should not be > > orders of magnitude more investment. > > "should nbot be" without numbers is not worth much. So show us your numbers that led you to say it is "many orders of magnitude higher up-front investment". > > There is some reason to believe that if a government organization can > > do something for $100 mil that a new startup company could do it for > > much less. > > Provided it does not have to work, yes. If it does have to work, it becomes > much less clear, esp as they will have to fly a lot of micro/nanosats > to get the basic know-how and technology. Venture capitalist would only fund a really good team with lots of know-how and experience. The money will not show up unless there is very good reason to think the group can make the project work. Venture capitalists are not always right, but they are much more careful in choosing people and projects to fund than taxpayers are. > Never mind that they will also > have to figure out the descent and return side (SMART-1 is orbiter). This tether probe is just an orbiter too. It does not descend to the surface of the moon. Only the tip of the tether touches the surface. > > As I said about costs above, "... it is clearly hard to say". But a tether > > to lift 5 Kg from the moon only needs to be like 15 to 30 Kg. > > So the system does not need to be really huge. > > Maybe you should start doing some numbers then? Like say how much a 100 km > spool would weight? It would probably only be 10 or 20 km long. I am happy that a few people understand the idea and agree it seems interesting. Trying to get people to agree to what a spool weighs is not something I care to do. -- Vince