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Rather than shooting up rockets into space with materials to try and build a 'mother-ship', the sensible thing to do is to build a space elevator. Then you can just haul men and materials up and down. You construct the new spaceship up at the top of the space elevator, fly it away to wherever, and begin construction on another one, only this time, you'll have all the necessary equipment and platforms necessary to build the next one quicker. The one you've just deployed will go and set up another space elevator on the moon, returning for materials if needed(which will again be hauled up through Earth's elevator). Due to lower gravity on the moon and Mars, space elevators there can be made out of far cheaper materials. Once elevators are set up on those two planetoids, you can begin construction of colonies around them planetside.

Who do you call if you get stuck in the Space-Elevator?

The Space-Janitor?

Albatross wrote:Who do you call if you get stuck in the Space-Elevator?

Depending on how high up you got they could probably send up a weather balloon with some kind of fix.

You got to be mad to go up a space elevator.

Lord-Loss wrote:You got to be mad to go up a space elevator.

As opposed to strapping yourself to a giant tower of explosives. Though you're correct, as it would probably take days for a space elevators cargo to make it to the top, and they likely aren't going to be transporting food, oxygen, or water (weight is going to be at an incredible premium as a space elevator will likely only be able to carry a few hundred pounds per trip, though that really depends on the strength of the line).

The first test phase of a new and faster plasma engine the VASMIR will begin in 2012 and we will need Creed to outflank the apocalypse.It could reduce travel to Jupiter from 6 years to 14 months.