[meteorite-list] The space program after Bush

From: E.P. Grondine <epgrondine_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 06:26:42 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <842397.82319.qm_at_web36911.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Hello everyone -

A lot of you have carbonaceous chondrites in your
collections. They resemble charcoal, and reflect
little light.

The 75 meter carbonaceous chondrites (comet fragments)
are impossible to reliably find from the Earth. Trying
to reliably find them from L1 is impossible as well,
because the systems require too much power.

The only reason to go to the Moon is to build the
Comet and Asteroid Protection System, which could not
only reliably give warning of approaching 75 m comet
fragments, but an additional 6 months warning of
approaching long period comets.

While such a system could be built by an international
consortium, if it is not, whichever nation provides
the best warning system will assume the world
leadership role in space.

Once on the Moon, the infrastructure cold be used for
other purposes, including SETI.

So what does Lou's meeting all mean? Not much - some
of the manned Mars enthusiasts (note their age - most
of them were raised with the concept of an Earth-like
Mars) are simply trying to reposition themselves after
the failure of their neo-conservative allies.

E.P. Grondine
Man and Impact in the Americas







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Received on Mon 21 Jan 2008 09:26:42 AM PST