Former Director of the ISS Division At NASA Talks About Science Behind 'Elysium' 366
Nerval's Lobster writes "In the new movie 'Elysium,' Earth a century and a half from now is an overtaxed slum, low on niceties like clean water and riddled with crime and sickness. The ultra-rich have abandoned terra firma in favor of Elysium, an orbital space station where the champagne flows freely and the medical care is the best possible. Mark Uhran, former director of the International Space Station Division at NASA headquarters, talked with Slashdot about what it would take (and how much it would cost) to actually build a space station like that for civilians. It turns out NASA did a report way back in 1975 describing what it would take to build a Stanford torus space station like the one in the movie: rotation for artificial gravity, a separate shield for radiation and debris, the ability to mine materials from astroids or possibly the moon, and $190.8 billion in 1975 dollars (the equivalent of $828.11 billion today). Looks like the ultra-rich are stuck on Earth for the time being."
And still artificial gravity experiments languish.
Re:who pays for maintenance? (Score:5, Funny)
"Science Fiction is not prophecy, it is a story."
Wrong!
"Idiocracy" is not only prophecy, it's a documentary sent from the future. Hell we are already in the early stages of it. I have seen the SIGNS!
Re:who pays for maintenance? (Score:4, Funny)
Getting into the position of power where they get the things they want, is what makes them rich. Rich is the consequence, not the premise.
To answer your question, they get the earthlings to pay the bills, which is why the earthlings are poor. "Send me another batch of wheat and monocle polish, or else my mass driver will send your city another big rock."