What I've never understood is why the ISS wasn't designed in part as a construction platform. Wouldn't it make sense to build the vehicle needed for a Lunar or Martian mission in space and not worry so much about the weight needed to haul everything up in one go?
I mean, I'm not so hot at orbital mechanics, but I thought a really big chunk of the weight was in the rocket and fuel needed to boost the payload into orbit, then a much smaller amount of weight got spent on setting up the flight path to the destination orbit.
If I have the right of it, why spend time and money building the launch vehicles when we can use existing lifters to shove the stuff up and then push off from there. I mean, depending on the departure orbit, we're talking about a third of the velocity needed and most of the mass. You wouldn't even need to tug the return re-entry vehicle along for the ride.
Am I missing something that space experts know all about?
I mean, I'm not so hot at orbital mechanics, but I thought a really big chunk of the weight was in the rocket and fuel needed to boost the payload into orbit, then a much smaller amount of weight got spent on setting up the flight path to the destination orbit.
If I have the right of it, why spend time and money building the launch vehicles when we can use existing lifters to shove the stuff up and then push off from there. I mean, depending on the departure orbit, we're talking about a third of the velocity needed and most of the mass. You wouldn't even need to tug the return re-entry vehicle along for the ride.
Am I missing something that space experts know all about?