Scoobywagon

Scoobywagon t1_j9u09bc wrote

Simple. They've never seen it done and are unable to do it themselves. It may be a little short-sighted, sure. But not entirely unreasonable for someone who doesn't know how this stuff works.

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Scoobywagon t1_j8frqq0 wrote

we do not have the ability, for the moment, to gather and process materials in space, either from an asteroid, or the moon, or Mars. There have been several thought experiments centered on how to do that sort of thing and what we should expect in terms of the materials produced. But we have not built anything that I know of to try and prove or disprove any of that.

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Scoobywagon t1_j8frew9 wrote

I'd need to go look them up (which I'm too lazy to do right at the moment), but as I recall, one of them failed due to outgassing of something or other. Obviously, that's a solvable problem since we already know how to build sealed modules for the space station that do not have outgassing (i.e. materials) problems. The other, I think, failed because the crew were having problems, not because the structure itself failed. If you know otherwise, that'd be interesting to know.

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Scoobywagon t1_j8dk71v wrote

I don't know about doing it in space, but it HAS been done on Earth. Twice. Now, both of THOSE experiments were done to test the effects of long term isolation on a group of human beings. But they were both completely sealed, self-sufficient environments that satisfy the parameters you state, aside from being in space.

Building such a thing in space is more difficult, because the structure would likely need to be much larger than anything we've lifted into space at this point. So that would mean more lifts into space, more potential points of failure in space, more things to break, etc. So, yes it is PROBABLY possible, but also not terribly feasible yet.

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Scoobywagon t1_j72gj9e wrote

https://www.harborfreight.com/tool-set-with-case-130-piece-63248.html

The tools themselves are pretty cheap. However, they have a lifetime warranty, replacement is easy, and the set includes all of the basics you need to get started. Yes, there are better hammers and screwdrivers out there and you'll DEFINITELY want to upgrade at some point. But this will definitely get you started.

To that, I would add: https://www.harborfreight.com/25-ft-x-1-in-slide-lock-tape-measure-56676.html

You want a measuring tape with a good case (these things take a beating you wouldn't believe), quality return spring, and a good foot.

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Scoobywagon t1_j6g8660 wrote

Preferably a 2 wheel dolly with stair rollers. IF you don't have a friend, a couple of ratchet straps (to hold the tank on the dolly) and a come-along (to pull the assembly up the stairs) will work pretty well.

Alternatively, since it has failed, you don't need to worry about getting it up the stairs in one piece. So go after it with a sawzall and work out some hostility.

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Scoobywagon t1_j6dl9no wrote

Mileage on a car is really more an indicator of wear than "age" of the car. The car does not have the ability to log "city" vs. "highway" mileage. So you, the buyer, need to look at the age of the car and the number of miles on it and decide for yourself how much wear you think the car has.

If the car is 5 years old and has 150,000 miles on it, obviously those are highway miles because the highway is really the only way to put 30,000 miles on a car in a year. On the other hand, a 5 year old car that has maybe 60,000 miles might have spent all of its time in city traffic. Taken in combination with the overall condition of the car's interior, etc. you can get a pretty good idea of how it was used and how worn it is.

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