Could they not leave the Dragon attached and use its super dracos? They would still have to lift propellant but maybe the extra plumbing needed might mass less than another engine. Maybe.

Plus, they’d have a “lifeboat” with them. Someplace to go if the main hab lost pressure.

Just a thought.

Some people here are just hecklers and have little more to contribute. They need the attention.

As long as COTS and CCDEV (CCiCAP) are developing vehicles for LEO, federal agencies like ESA and NASA can devote “in house” resources for BEO hardware. It’s that simple.

Shotcrete on the Moon is an interesting idea. An ISRU water capability would need to be established first, of course. Also, the chemistry would have to be within the ISRU envelope as well and quite different from terrestrial concrete given the lack of limestone on the Moon.

When China makes its manned Moon decision, it will be interesting to watch what its diplomatic course will be.

For several reasons. The main point of departure for all speculation about future scenarios vis-a-vis China is whether or not one assumes the future Chinese regime is a straightforward extrapolation of the current one or whether a sharp break occurs in the interim and the ruling Communists are deposed. I have formulated, only somewhat in jest, what I call my “Olympics + 9 Rule” for the downfall of totalitarian regimes, to wit:

Nazi Germany hosted the 1936 Olympics in its capital, Berlin. Nazi Germany was defeated in war by 1945, nine years later.

The Soviet Union hosted the 1980 Olympics in its capital, Moscow. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989 starting the inexorable process of dissolution for the Soviet Union which took two more years to run to completion.

The PRC hosted the 2008 Olympics in its capital, Beijing. The current regime should beware the next Year of the Rooster in 2017.

All amateur Nostradamism aside, however, China is going to be an increasingly consequential player in space regardless of its internal political arrangements, while Russia will fade in importance as the 21st Century progresses. The Russians probably imagine themselves, as they typically do, to be the senior partner in the space-related alliance they recently announced with the PRC. I see a long series of future instances coming in which the Chinese will have opportunities to incrementally school the Russians on the contrary actual facts of their situation.

China’s current rude behavior towards its neighbors is surprising, given what China itself experienced in the recent past.

Not really. China is a “face” culture and grudges are eternal. Even a future non-Communist China is going to despise Japan. China’s attitude toward the rest of Asia is pretty well summed up as, “If you ain’t Chinese, then you ain’t shit.” China has been accustomed for centuries to being the big dog in its neighborhood and old habits die hard.

To Rand: Thanks for the clarification. I knew Reagan had laid down a framework for more commercial involvement, but NASA was still very much in the monkey-dominance mode of purveying FUD about every potential commercial space effort in those days. As with many Reagan initiatives, this one didn’t reach ripeness until after he left office. On balance, I guess I prefer that America have most of its first-class visionaries in the private sector, but it would be nice if we had at least one or two people of Reagan’s caliber left in politics to provide adult supervision.

Reagan was instrumental in passing the Commercial Space Launch Act, which regulatorily enabled the commercial launch industry. I wrote about it at the time of his death a decade ago.