Global Satellite Communications Technology and Systems (1998)
<http://www.wtec.org/loyola/satcom2/toc.htm>

Good day - Laptop power on switch - failed the "Power On" test. No laptop.

While digging through a stack of material to find the service contract for the laptop repair, found a lot of interesting material to look over and think about. Looking at the dates on some of the papers I began to wonder how things might have changed since they were written

Below is a chapter on launch systems that was written in December of 1998. That is only eight years ago. The paragraph following the one I copied below starts out with the sentence, "Considerable change has occurred since the last report." If you read the chapter, and maybe the whole report, think about what has changed since this was written and then look into the future and consider what will need to happen to get us back to the Moon.
- LRK -

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http://www.wtec.org/loyola/satcom2/04_03.htm


LAUNCH SYSTEMS


Introduction

The increased use of commercial satellites to meet the burgeoning worldwide market for telecommunications has placed increased demands on the launch service industry. The capacity of this industry will not be adequate to meet the needs of all the proposals for new satellites. Even though not all the proposals will get to the marketplace, there appears to be a shortage of launch capacity. In addition, this industry has new challenges to meet. In contrast to the past when most of the commercial satellites were placed into GEO, new satellites will also be placed into LEO and MEO. These latter orbits will be used by constellations of satellites requiring the launch of numerous satellites at a time and the launch of satellites to replace failed satellites, with little lead time. In addition, there is considerable pressure on the launch industry to make a considerable decrease in the price of entrance into space as well as to increase the reliability of the launches, a point that has been watched with considerable interest by the investment banking community.

Considerable change has occurred since the last report. This is no longer an industry where the need for government and military launches exceeds that of the commercial world. Private investment in new or improved launch systems has increased and may now be even greater than that of governments. To meet the increasing demand for launches, U.S. corporations have acquired launch service capability from other nations and booked launches considerably in advance of their need, just to improve their own position in this competitive growth market. In
addition, new launch vehicles are being developed to increase the capacity of the industry and to reduce costs. While much has been done to increase the lift capability of the launch vehicles, little progress has occurred in making significant decreases in the cost of launches.
The added lift capability is needed to meet the demands for heavier commercial spacecraft and the need to launch more than one satellite at a time. This latter capability is especially important for the launch and subsequent insertion of numerous satellites into the multi-satellite LEO and MEO orbits. The purpose of this section is to highlight the changes in this industry that have occurred in the five years since the last report.

Snip
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You might also like to take a look at the reports archive page.
- LRK -

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Study reports completed by WTEC Inc.
http://www.wtec.org/reports.htm

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This one is about the development of robotics and you might like to look at what they have to say about robots in space.
- LRK -


http://www.wtec.org/robotics/welcome.htm
Assessment of International Research and Development in Robotics
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http://www.wtec.org/robotics/report/03-Space.pdf
CHAPTER 3
SPACE ROBOTICS
Brian Wilcox, Robert Ambrose, Vijay Kumar
WHAT IS SPACE ROBOTICS?
Space robotics is the development of general purpose machines that are capable of surviving (for a time, at least) the rigors of the space environment, and performing exploration, assembly, construction, maintenance, servicing or other tasks that may or may not have been fully understood at the time of the design of the robot. Humans control space robots from either a “local” control console (e.g. with essentially zero speed-of-light delay, as in the case of the Space Shuttle robot arm (Figure 3.1) controlled by astronauts inside the pressurized cabin) or “remotely” (e.g. with non-negligible speed-of-light delays, as in the case of the Mars Exploration Rovers (Figure 3.2) controlled from human operators on Earth). Space robots are generally
designed to do multiple tasks, including unanticipated tasks, within a broad sphere of competence (e.g. payload deployment, retrieval, or inspection; planetary exploration).

Snip
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I think I will go read some of these. Have one I wrote 1984 on titled, "RETURN TO THE MOON". Wonder what we were thinking back in 1984. That is only 22 years. You aren't in a hurry to get back to the Moon are you?

Not the same as what I have in hand, but you get the picture.
- LRK -
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http://www.astronautix.com/craft/jsce1984.htm
/Class/: Manned. /Type/: Lunar Base. /Nation/: USA. /Agency/: NASA JSC.

In 1984 a Johnson Space Center team lad by Barney Roberts took NASA's first look at a return to the moon after the shuttle was in service. It anticipated later studies in using NASA's planned infrastructure - the shuttle, a shuttle-derived heavy lift vehicle, space station, and orbital transfer vehicle to build a permanent 18-crew moon base in 2005-2015.

Snip
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Stay tuned and see what is proposed on December 4. (See below)

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
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THE DAY IN SPACE
__________________
In today's space news from SpaceRef:

-- NASA Exploration Strategy and Lunar Architecture Briefing
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=21364

"NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale and senior executives from the Exploration Systems
Mission Directorate will host a press conference at 1 p.m. CST Monday, Dec. 4, to announce the
agency's global exploration strategy and lunar architecture."


-- Save Centennial Challenges - Space Leaders Call on Congress to Restore Funding
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=21363

"The Space Exploration Alliance, the Space Frontier Foundation, and the X Prize Foundation have come together to call on Congress to support and expand Centennial Challenges, NASA's space prize program."


-- Stephen Hawking to Receive Medal Flown on Space Shuttle
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=21367

"Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking is being honored with the world's oldest award for scientific achievement, with a special high-altitude assist from NASA."


-- American Astronomical Society Releases Statement on the NSF Astronomy
Senior Review
Report
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=21366

"The American Astronomical Society, the largest professional organization for research
astronomers in the United States has issued a statement on the recently released National
Science Foundation Division of Astronomical Sciences Senior Review report. The report, entitled
"From the Ground Up: Balancing the NSF Astronomy Program" was completed on October 22,
2006."

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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