Wednesday, February 2, 2022

So, Here's How We Get Our Lagrange Point Station

 If you've been following the James Web Space Telescope, then you know it's dang hard to get something the size of a small truck out to L5.

Lagrange stations are a staple of science fiction. It takes very little fuel to keep something at a Lagrange point because gravity is on your side.

But getting to either of the Earth-Sun Lagrange points is a true challenge. Lifting that much material...

...but there's a solution.

You use material that's already there.

And we may have it. 2020 XL is an asteroid that's in a similar orbit to Webb around L4, the other Earth-Sun point.

It's a kilometer long.

And it's stable in the long term by human standards...it's going to be there at least 3,500 years.

So?

We hollow it out and use it to make our Lagrange point base. Significantly reduces what we need to transport.

Of course, it would need a better name at that point.

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