To create a spacefaring civilization

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How should it be gone about?

Here's my basic outline:

*2015, the creation of the orbital "gas station" by Stone Aerospace, which will use water ice from the moon decomposed into component hydrogen and oxygen to refuel ships once they reach orbit so as to allow missions not to need as much fuel when launched from the Earth.

*Next, ore mining and processing on the moon.

*Then, an electromagnetic catapult on the moon capable of launching materials into lunar orbit.

*A shipyard in orbit of the moon.

*If carbon nanofibers are able to be mass produced during this, then a space elevator should begin construction immediately.

*Centrifugal stations need to be built to house farms, since the roots of plants are gravitropic, in addition to being way-stations for crews returning to Earth from an extended amount of time in zero gravity.

*The construction of subsurface habitations on Mars, and subsequent colonization.

*Interplanetary waypoint stations, in orbit of the sun between the orbits of Earth and Mars, having centrifugal toroid stations nearby, zero-g warehouses for intermediate housing of goods for trade between Earth and Mars allowing for less travel time for individual ships.

*The moons of Mars being tunneled within and turned into space stations.

*The construction of space elevators on Mars.

*Harvesting the asteroid belt, perhaps with bases being made out of the larger asteroids and ships out of the smaller ones.

*Development of habitations and facilities on the moons of the gas giants.

*The construction of spacecraft in orbit of whatever planets or moons that don't have laws against using nuclear propulsion, thus allowing a form of interstellar spaceflight. Send a robotic probe with smart AI using NPP to every star system within 10 lightyears, and continue construction within the solar system for the next century while waiting for data. If planets that are remotely able to be terraformed are found, an armada of terraformation and colonization ships should be constructed and sent practically immediately.

*Repeat basic process within each star system.

As things stand we are not going to be returning to the Moon by 2015. Perhaps 2050.

ruveyn

Why not just an ark made of wood floating in space?

Well, 2015's the timetable given by Stone Aerospace anyhow, whether it happens or not.

You want a real answer or do you just want to feel like you're being "clever"?

They better find corporate funding for all that because the government will have to cut spending by at least $5 trillion then from current levels to keep fiscally solvent.

John Browning, you forget that space travel is a far cheaper if not a free solution for getting rid of the Mideast nukes than the Iraq war which by the way did not suceed in dismantling one weapon of mass destruction.

Very unlikely.

NASA just handed out 4 development contracts for orbital fuel depots. The most likely to succeed would be a small test depot using Atlas V or Delta IV and refueled from Earth. Still many years away with current funding levels. Unfortunately the technology development budget has been under attack from space state representatives who only care about existing jobs in their states, not research. And budgets will only get tighter.

Plus lunar mining is many years away. Even a simple test. JPL has done some work with it but nothing is slated to fly. After that a business case would be established, then funding, etc. And it certainly would not be in 2015 when no exploration class missions are slated to begin until the 2020s. There are no customers and no missions to justify it sooner.

If NASA goes forward with this and develops mission profiles to use it, then we'll see it. It's also good in that it provides additional work for commercial space as they'd handle resupply flights. That adds to their business case (ISS supply, crew flights, fuel runs).

Wouldn't it make more sense to recycle materials already existing in the space station or space shuttle and just keep it up there? It could be possible to create a computer that performs operations of physical matter so it can rearrange matter as a way of recycling.

That doesn't look too sci-fi-ish though.

Fuel depots are about exploration. If gas stations are on orbit (or at other points of interest), you can launch more hardware on each rocket and then just pick up fuel in orbit.

The idea has been kicking around for years but NASA is suddenly more interested.

The current financial situation has essentially ended the U.S. manned space effort. Only a private firm can rescue it. But the private firm has to be paid. How? If the government does not provide the funds what profitable activity can repay any money borrowed to produce private space vehicles?

ruveyn

ISS won't sink until at least 2020 and possibly as long as 2028. That's a stable market for the development of commercial space.

If Bigelow launches their own stations and leases space to other nations then you have a truly commercial market that will be subsidized by anything else NASA might do.

Lots of "ifs" but it's the best shot commercial space has ever had.

Right now the only profitable activity in space for private firms is building and or launching space sattilites for communication or mapping. Manned space activity is pure loss at this juncture.

ruveyn

Boeing just entered a commercial agreement with Atlas V to launch their own capsule. They will be making money on each flight to the ISS. Boeing's not stupid. They have no interest in flying if there is no profit. Space X will likely succeed as well. There are a couple of others who may succeed. NASA will pay them a fixed price per crew member just as they pay the Russians today.

About half of their development money is coming from NASA but they don't need to pay it back. NASA sees it as a needed investment post-shuttle. After they are flying, they can sell seats to anyone (and NASA). That's a business.

They also do satellites, supply and exploration launches. But crew launches will make money too.

One low orbit stinking little sh*t can space station is not a very robust market.

ruveyn