Word: l5
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Princeton gathering, O'Neill and others discussed the establishment of the first colony at a libration point called L5, which lies in the moon's orbit at a spot equidistant from earth and moon. Simultaneously, the space colonizers would set up a small mining base on the moon. Its purpose: to provide most of the building blocks for the colonies. Rich in aluminum, titanium, iron and other essential materials-including oxygen-lunar rocks could be fired off by a continuously catapulting device. Slowing as they climb out of the moon's gravity, these building blocks would eventually...
...first space habitat-he thinks the word colony connotes exploitation-could be functioning by the start of the next century. Its early inhabitants would probably be "hardhat types," O'Neill says, but after the initial construction is finished almost anyone with a spirit of adventure could live at L5. The cost would be somewhat more than that of the $25 billion Project Apollo, which placed men on the moon, but no more than a fifth of the estimated minimal $600 billion tab for Project Independence, the U.S. effort to free itself from dependence on foreign energy sources long before...