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Manufacturing in space could have a lot of applications... but it's such a pain to get stuff into orbit and back.
by bayesian_horse 8y ago
Manufacturing in space could have a lot of applications... but it's such a pain to get stuff into orbit and back.
- adrianN 8y agoThat's why you capture an asteroid or mine the Moon.
- phpnode 8y agoI'm imagining a giant spool of optic fibre made from lunar regolith being wound back to earth directly from the moon
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoI was imaging a module on ISS feeding cable out direct to the surface of the Earth (impossible as ISS isn't geostationary). ISS is 400km high apparently, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber-Optic_Link_Around_the_Globe https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber-Optic_Link_Around_the_... is 28,000km for comparison. Perhaps with your plan we could put a giant spool at one of the poles and auto-wind it!
- Robotbeat 8y agoSpaceX intends to get costs down to about $10/kg to LEO using BFR, almost as cheap as long haul air cargo. That is 2-3 orders of magnitude improvement and changes a lot of calculations.
- bayesian_horse 8y agoThe next calculation is how LEO transfers affects the environment/climate over the long term, when you begin using it as much as long haul air cargo...
- Robotbeat 8y agoNot likely.
- hwillis 8y agoIn this case, they say a km of fiber is worth $1 million+. A 125 micron fiber weighs about 32.4 grams per kilometer, which costs $55 on a Falcon 9. So 20,000x less than the sale price.