"Michael M. Butler" wrote:
> Adrian says:
> > If they can't self-assemble, then you lose a lot of the
> > advantage of LEGO et al: once something is assembled, you can't easily
> > alter it (including repairs) on site.
>
> Say what? LEGOs ca. 2001 can't self-assemble. What are you talking
> about?
LEGOs can't self-assemble, but that's moot since they have an on-site
assembler (the user). What do you use to do the assembly in orbit, and
how do you control the assembler?
> > when building a machine that can only be tested after a lengthy
> > shipment to where it will be used, the time and money cost per test
> > cycle mean you can't do as much testing - for serious projects - or
> > playing - for non-serious.)
>
> The smaller the assemblies, the easier it is to set up a spacelike
> environment down here. The fewer the dissimilar materials, the fewer
> surprises due to the space environment.
Vacuum can be replicated; zero-g can't (for indefinite amounts of time,
anyway). Zero-g makes a big difference mechanically.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:59:39 MDT