XPost: rec.aviation.military, alt.economics   
   From: PointedEars@web.de   
      
   Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:   
   > We have ISS.   
      
   Yes.   
      
   > Can we expand ISS into a huge space-ship or star-ship?   
      
   No.   
      
   > Only time will tell.   
      
   The ISS is going to be deorbited, i.e. destroyed, soon :'-(   
      
   > I believe human being will try to build it but not on the ground,   
      
   Yes, that would make little sense.  Like a too large radio telescope, the   
   ship will be crushed under its own weight while still in construction.   
      
   > possibly at Lagrange points.   
      
   Unlikely.  Being at a Lagrange point does not mean that you do not need   
   thrusters to stay there (at least L1 and L2).  Also, the Lagrange points of   
   a system can be very far away from each body (L1 and L2 of Sol--Terra, where   
   solar observatories and e.g. the JWST are orbiting, respectively, are 1.5   
   million km away from Terra).  Standard orbits are much less expensive in   
   terms of fuel, both maintaining them and getting there and back.   
      
   > Building a huge space-ship that can both land and fly to space indeed   
   > sounds impossible, right now.   
      
   I doubt that this is a feasible design to begin with.  Even in Star Trek the   
   only *starship* class that could land on a terrestrial planet was the most   
   modern class, the Intrepid class represented on screen by the U.S.S.   
   Voyager; for landing on planets they usually use(d) relatively small   
   shuttlecraft that were carried along by a starship, and the transporter beam   
   (crash landings aside, of course).   
      
   > SpaceX Starship is just the beginning??? :)   
      
   Correct.   
      
   F'up2 alt.astronomy   
      
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   PointedEars   
      
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