Hello Mark -

I am deeply appreciative of your comments on Tumlinson's business practices the other day. I don't know that I've ever called Tumlinson a thief, as you did. Usually I just describe him as an idiot, as it's difficult to prove criminal intent. But as far as him being a thief is concerned, I would not mind if a Russian court made that effort!

Moving on to current business, I am glad to see your support for efforts to detect asteroids and comets before they hit the Earth and kill extra-ordinarily large numbers of people. As are you undoubtedly aware, there is a systems study going on at NASA Langley right now to determine the cheapest way of dealing with this hazard. Surprisingly enough, they seem to be reaching the same conclusion I reached years ago, that man tended lunar telescopes and radar may be the cheapest and most efficient way of handling the NEO problem.

Whether we go to the Moon or Mars first, in either case, we immediately need more money for Earth based NEO detection, and the only source available for this money given the current budget constraints seems to be to get it from some of the more esoteric Mars studies. Tha's not to say that these studies aren't valuable, it's just that we've got to take care of first things first.

By the way, musing on your earlier posts, von Braun intended to manufacture his fuel for Earth return from the Martian water ice which he imagined to exist, and this proposal was eirily similar to Zubrin's current much more realistic plans for fuel manufacture from the Martian atmosphere.

G'night...
EP