Once upon a time, Jeffrey Kaplan said:
>Why is a Lagrange Point a "natural crossroads"? What is it about one
>of these points that make it better for such use than merely someplace
>in orbit? For that matter, what IS a Lagrange Point? I've heard the
>name, but never understood what it is or why it's a good thing.
Wikipedia and Google can answer better, but a Lagrange point is a point
where gravitational forces between objects (such as the Earth and the
Moon) balance out such that an object can remain stationary relative to
the other objects. There are several Lagrange points in each two-body
system; they have different stability and usefulness.
The advantage is that it is easy for a ship entering or leaving the
system to reach the Lagrange point; you don't have to expend a bunch of
energy matching or escaping orbital velocities.
>I think the Shuttle program showed quite well that returning craft do
>NOT need parachutes for re-entry. Capsule-types (Apollo, Soyuz) do,
>but since you're talking specifically about shuttling between the Earth
>surface and an in-space location, why not make it a space-plane that
>can take off and land like an airplane?
The Shuttle showed that you can lose a large chunk of your launch mass
carrying wings and landing gear and such (parachutes and a simple heat
shield are much lighter), and if anything goes wrong, you are screwed.
We are a long way from any technology that would allow a vehicle to take
off like an airplane and make it to space.
The only significant advantage to the Shuttle was that it could return
large payloads from space, but that turned out to be an expensive
option.
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