Project Cirrus

a logical program for the colonisation of the solar system

earth is the cradle of mankind, but man cannot live in a cradle forever - willy ley

the program is based on a uniform connectivity between modules

each utility module is built in four sizes initially

each with a universal docking module

each module is designed to be easily reconfigured

as habitation, storage ,fuel, rocket motor etc

each module has four stubby fins to which can be attached

utility pods of the four sizes

these are also easily reconfigured to serve any of above purposes

the whole construct is initially boosted into earth orbit

and only the flight deck/escape pod returns to earth

the other modules are attached to the low orbit space station

which is constructed of these same modules, pods and universal docking rings

phase 1 establish low orbit spacestation ( station LEO )

phase2 establish Geostationary Spacestation x3 ( stations Ledovsky,Shiborin and Mitkov )

phase 3 establish Waystation at Lagrange pt

phase 4 establish Moonbase Armstrong,

initially mining complex and build mass driver

phase 5 build up Lagrange Waystation into industrial complex

to start churning out more spaceships

phase 6 longer term goals are of necessity more general

as experience to that point will teach us much

possibilities include Mars settlement and orbital station

mining in the Asteroid Belt

mining atmosphere of Venus for rare gases

settlement on Titan

we are not looking at building a fleet of six shuttles

we should build thousand of these generic babies

and virtually give them away to anyone foolish enough to want to fly one

of course there will be many casualties

but as manpower is hardly our most scarce resource

it wouldnt seem to be a problem

better for them to die exploring for the betterment of humanity

than to be killed in a pointless battle here on earth