Hey Ken, la poésie vient avec l'inspiration!
Et quand on en manque, on attend la prochaine occasion.

I went to Delft (Holland) in 2001 at a Mars Society convention and the place was crowded. Zubrin was there.
Exactly one year later, I went to the same place and met with Jack Schmitt.
We were at lest 3 times less in the crowd (which made it much easier to ask Jack questions) but the few who were there were quite moved. I saw an elderly guy filming the whole thing, asking a question and he was shaking with emotion.
The Lunex guys told us that they're upset with the Mars society which is completely ignoring the Moon while Lunex doens't ignore Mars as the next goal.

I'm interested in our perceptions of things. They vary with time and with our knowledge of worlds. And inevitably, people get bored with LEO (forgetting that they'll get bored with Mars and the Moon, etc.
The grass is always greener in the other garden.
That's why we should understand why we're interested in space. it might not necessarily be for the same reasons.

The Russians have had a reliable rocket (the Soyuz launcher) and it pays off! They'll be going to Kourou!
That rocket is very cheap and that's not only because it's Russian.
Because it's mass produced.

But I wonder how HLLV's can be mass produced. That would be great!

Some of the heat shield ideas come from Gary, I believe.

Regards

Raoul