Actually, I'm referring to the carbon asteroids that are leftovers from the formation of our solar system. They may contain single crystals that are meters in size. Large crystals requires a very slow cooling time, and our solar system cooled over a period of billions of years.
It's not just gem stones. A large crystal of metal would be very strong and very heat resistant with no grain boundaries in the material. Conditions to form monocrystals like that are not economically feasable here on Earth.
Don't take our last 2 wars as "typical" applications of strategic bombing. Afganistan had not air power to speak of, and Saddam's we had destroyed in Gulf War I.
China, North Korea, Pakistan, and the Former Soviet Union all field massive air forces coupled with complex anti-aircraft defense systems. If WWI and Korea are any measure, we don't often get a whole lot of warning about who our adversaries are going to be 10 or 20 years out. Korea was fought with WWII leftovers, and we didn't know until several years into the conflict which side we were going to fight on.
Having a fleet of stealth bombers in our back pocket gives everyone pause. Allies know we can bring those weapons to bear to watch their back. Foes know we can pile on a whole lot of hurt if provoked.
The fact that they can deliver a nuclear payload, relatively undetected, is just icing on the cake.
You have to process 250 tons of rock to produce 1 carat of diamond. There are asteroids out there that are made of diamond. Huge crystals at that.
You also have to consider the possibility that we will find some radical new material out there that will completely revolutionize technology, or at the very least make something that is prohibitively expensive today cheap tomarrow.
The Saturn V burned 30% of it's fuel to get off the ground. Try not to think of it in terms of height, but in terms of speed. In that 30m the craft is accellerating all that mass, and as it burns fuel it gets lighter.
The Space Shuttle uses solid rocket boosters to get started moving.
Your idea for a 30 meter "snorkel" is too dangerous. Most rocket fuel is cryogenic, i.e. WAY cold, and under extreme pressure. You can't use flexible piping with that. Rubber and plastic would shatter. A steel or copper tube would add a tremendous amount of weight to the spacecraft, because it too would have to be accellerated.
There are a good deal of missions that the Stealth Bomber can do that a cruise missile can't. Mainly bombing a moving column of tanks. For all it's expense, it does allow a single two person bomber to do the job of an entire air wing when you factor in escorts, refuelers, escorts for the refuelers, and so forth.
As a funny aside, the U.S. did experiment with concrete ships in WWI and WWII.
Most of the ships were deliberately sunk to make peirs, breakwaters, etc. You can actually see how well (or poorly) concrete weathers in a marine environment about 100 yards off of Cape May, New Jersey.
The vessel "Atlantus" ran aground there in 1926 and remains to this day.
Dude, I do this for a living. Unless you are intimately familiar with the IP addresses of every host you receive email from, you are wasting more time peering through the headers than employing common sense.
And I don't just delete the message. Phishing Scams like these I actually forward on to Pay Pal and Ebay's fraud units. It takes a few extra minutes, but it helps me sleep better at night.
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It's not just gem stones. A large crystal of metal would be very strong and very heat resistant with no grain boundaries in the material. Conditions to form monocrystals like that are not economically feasable here on Earth.
There's an old joke about how to dig a swimming pool in Iraq, somewhat along those lines.
China, North Korea, Pakistan, and the Former Soviet Union all field massive air forces coupled with complex anti-aircraft defense systems. If WWI and Korea are any measure, we don't often get a whole lot of warning about who our adversaries are going to be 10 or 20 years out. Korea was fought with WWII leftovers, and we didn't know until several years into the conflict which side we were going to fight on.
Having a fleet of stealth bombers in our back pocket gives everyone pause. Allies know we can bring those weapons to bear to watch their back. Foes know we can pile on a whole lot of hurt if provoked.
The fact that they can deliver a nuclear payload, relatively undetected, is just icing on the cake.
Fortunately an ore is more or less a bulk cargo. You can drop it from orbit, just make sure you aim for a relatively uninhabited spot.
You also have to consider the possibility that we will find some radical new material out there that will completely revolutionize technology, or at the very least make something that is prohibitively expensive today cheap tomarrow.
Maybe not trebuchets. How about rail guns? You can make the barrel a couple of miles long to spread the accelleration out a bit.
The Space Shuttle uses solid rocket boosters to get started moving.
Your idea for a 30 meter "snorkel" is too dangerous. Most rocket fuel is cryogenic, i.e. WAY cold, and under extreme pressure. You can't use flexible piping with that. Rubber and plastic would shatter. A steel or copper tube would add a tremendous amount of weight to the spacecraft, because it too would have to be accellerated.
There are a good deal of missions that the Stealth Bomber can do that a cruise missile can't. Mainly bombing a moving column of tanks. For all it's expense, it does allow a single two person bomber to do the job of an entire air wing when you factor in escorts, refuelers, escorts for the refuelers, and so forth.
Otherwise, some kid right out of school would have done it already.
In a word, yes. Most clients I have tried to pick up on the side have balked at what custom software REALLY costs in terms of labor and time.
The CEO in a row boat.
Now here I thought there was some taxidermy involved. That seal did look a little over-stuffed.
Please don't say Scientist or Engineer. They teach the theory, not the practice.
Yes, I am an Engineer.
News at 11, your eyes aren't all that a reliable tool for information gathering. Just look at research into the accuracy of eye-witness testimony.
In the 20's and 30's they were the mouthpeice of business.
In the 40's and 50's they were conduits for propoganda.
The 60's and 70's were all about counter culture.
The 80's and 90's they were back in the pockets of business.
Journalism, in short, is a very shallow reflection of society as a whole. It always has been. It always will be.
Unless you are a VP or higher.
No, they'll just post it again later today or tomarrow.
Not according to the Spam in my inbox.
Also feel free to tune into our "super low lag" server at 127.0.0.1
Most of the ships were deliberately sunk to make peirs, breakwaters, etc. You can actually see how well (or poorly) concrete weathers in a marine environment about 100 yards off of Cape May, New Jersey.
The vessel "Atlantus" ran aground there in 1926 and remains to this day.
No, really.
And I don't just delete the message. Phishing Scams like these I actually forward on to Pay Pal and Ebay's fraud units. It takes a few extra minutes, but it helps me sleep better at night.
Or they can collect on their winnings immediately by clicking on this link, with their accound name and password to paypal ...
After all, technical solutions have worked SOOOO well against Spam, and email worms.