Over ten years ago, I attended a conference where there was a presentation on tethers for moving things around in space. I was fascinated. We tend to think in terms of powerful rockets for our current space propulsion and maybe someday warp drives that can overcome the speed of light. But here were people talking about using long cables to move things around in space.
There is a lot of interest in asteroid mining these days in the space industry. Huge amounts of important and useful metals could be recovered from one type of asteroid. Another type of asteroid could supply hydrocarbons which can be used in the manufacture of a number of import industrial products such as plastics and medicines.
I have been blogging about propulsions systems lately.
Today to get people and payload to Earth orbit and beyond, a huge rocket burning tons of dangerous fuels at great expense in necessary.
Conventional rocket engines have reached a high level of efficiency. However, the space industry is always working on improving the propulsion systems used in space flight.
Until recently, the exploration and exploitation of space was a dominated by national governments which could bear the tremendous expense of launching payloads to orbit and beyon
Currently, exploration of space is governed by the U.N. Outer Space Treaty of 1966 which covers scientific exploration and commercial exploitation of orbits and bodies in space.
Space is not a friendly place. As the human race has sent explorers beyond the atmosphere into space, we have been discovering just how unfriendly it is.
The Future Space Leaders Foundation is "a tax exempt 501 c 3 non-profit organization dedicated to the career development of young space and satellite industry professionals." Ed
Part Two of Two Parts (Please read Part One first)
