From: kuakinar@videotron.ca   
      
   Le 2026-02-24 à 09:53, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn a écrit :   
   > 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   
   >   
      
   The L4 and L5 Lagrange points are pretty stable, but they are located at   
   1AU from us, at 60° in front and behind the Earth, forming equilateral   
   triangle with the Earth and the Sun.   
   That means that any communication will incur an 8 minutes delay, one   
   way, 16 minutes both way.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)