Will it ever be economically feasible to colonize the solar system?

[Ed Anger]

We need to form the CoDominion with Russia. That'll keep the rest in line.

[Neil]

We need to form the CoDominion with Russia. That'll keep the rest in line.

Would it really though?  After all, the US has about the same ability to project power in space as CdM's cat, and the Russians are too busy being drunk and stupid to dream of the stars.

Or were you just making an old sci-fi reference that I stomped all over?

[CountDeMoney]

After all, the US has about the same ability to project power in space as CdM's cat,

Hey now.   
My cat has a much bigger budget than NASA's right now. 

[Ed Anger]

We need to form the CoDominion with Russia. That'll keep the rest in line.

Would it really though?  After all, the US has about the same ability to project power in space as CdM's cat, and the Russians are too busy being drunk and stupid to dream of the stars.

Or were you just making an old sci-fi reference that I stomped all over?

Sci-fi reference. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoDominium_(book_series)

[Neil]

Yeah, I know Pournelle.  I just wanted to make a reference to CdM's cat.

[Neil]

After all, the US has about the same ability to project power in space as CdM's cat,

Hey now.   
My cat has a much bigger budget than NASA's right now. 

Well that makes sense.  Neither Democrats nor Republicans really value the work that NASA does.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Yeah, I know Pournelle.  I just wanted to make a reference to CdM's cat.

the cat in murcheson's eye...

[Iormlund]

Why would he become richer than Rockefeller? What's out there that is so valuable?

Unlimited clean energy sounds valuable enough to me.

[Eddie Teach]

Well that makes sense.  Neither Democrats nor Republicans really value the work that NASA does.

Tim needs to go into politics.

[Neil]

Why would he become richer than Rockefeller? What's out there that is so valuable?

Unlimited clean energy sounds valuable enough to me.

Is that actually out there though?

[Iormlund]

Unlimited clean energy sounds valuable enough to me.

Is that actually out there though?

Sure. It's just not economically feasible with the cost of ferrying all the stuff up there. But if it were cheap enough to launch a few robot missions and nudge  asteroids into orbit ...

[Neil]

But where does the energy come from?  The energy when someone fails to convert imperial to metric and crashes an asteroid into the planet?  That's not clean.

[Iormlund]

Heh. From the Sun, of course.

[Neil]

Heh. From the Sun, of course.

I don't know if that would work.

[Iormlund]

Technically? Why not? I've never read anything that puts in doubt the ability to beam the energy back here. Hell, we receive transmissions from Voyager I billions of km away, and the thing was made 40 years ago and uses like 20 Watt to power its dish.