XPost: sci.space.policy   
   From: ralphb@zip.com.au   
      
   "Lawrence Gales"  wrote in message   
   news:Pine.WNT.4.63.0603022344180.3940@your-kgj38sd53j...   
      
   >     interstellar flight   
   >   
   > However, as Henry Spencer once told me, most believe that Mars colonies   
   > can start out small whereas O'Neill colonies require huge up-front costs,   
   > as the smallest Island I colony of O'Neill can't be made much smaller than   
   > 3 million tons if it is to provide earth normal gravity.   
   >   
   > But two things have changed:   
   >   
   > (a) Instead of the spheres or cylinders which cannot be made small   
   >     w/o sacrificing gravity, the Stanford Torus can be scaled down   
   >     dramatically while retaining full 1 gee   
      
   How?   
      
   ta   
      
   Ralph   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)