Actually, NASA does throw away the empty shuttle fuel container after every launch. These are air-tight containers that could be used for low-orbit construction, but they're sent back to burn up in the atmosphere.
I'm sure that NASA has what they consider to be a good reason for doing this but it seems short-sighted to me. There have been aerospace engineers who have suggested that these tanks be used in the construction of a space station. Apparently, the construction tasks involved are prohibitively difficult to do, especially when compared to the effort of assembling prefabricated space station components.
Maybe once the International Space Station is functional and manned, this will be revisited...
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Yeah, I run that all the time. It's SockSort.
while(!basket1.empty()) {
similarity1 = 0;
sock1 = basket.pick(1);
sock2 = basket.pick(1);
similarity2 = compare(sock1, sock2);
if (similarity
You mean *cloned* leopard skin cases.
Actually, NASA does throw away the empty shuttle fuel container after every launch. These are air-tight containers that could be used for low-orbit construction, but they're sent back to burn up in the atmosphere.
I'm sure that NASA has what they consider to be a good reason for doing this but it seems short-sighted to me. There have been aerospace engineers who have suggested that these tanks be used in the construction of a space station. Apparently, the construction tasks involved are prohibitively difficult to do, especially when compared to the effort of assembling prefabricated space station components.
Maybe once the International Space Station is functional and manned, this will be revisited...