The X-43 has demonstrated that an air breathing scramjet can obtain Mach 10, and probably could be extended to Mach 15. If a scram jet vehicle (SSTO) was also...
You've got a 10 thousand mile long fuel line passing through the earth's magnetosphere at Mach 12 building charge all along its length. If the orbiting fuel ...
The fuel line/cable would have at least one outer conductive shield which will dissipate the charge. At 10,000 mile, one orbit takes between 11 and 12 hours to...
Besides obvious technological concerns, this would not help with cheap access to space, because you have to have that already to get the fuel to orbit. Taking...
SPACE GUN The fuel would be shot to orbit with some version of a "space gun", which is doable with today's very near tech, at a much reduced cost per pound....
I'm combining a couple of things in this reply. I thought about this idea some more, and quickly realized that you wouldn't need a 10000 mile long fuel line....
... If that is the case 2200 miles instead of 10,000 miles (I will recheck my numbers) then that is good news. ... 22,000 miles to GEO and maybe another 40,000...
Seems I was not clear about my main point: Why would we need all this complicated hardware (even if it was workable, which it isn't), if we already have the...
A super gun would be an option to get stuff to LEO, as long as that stuff can take 5000 to 10000 gees. This stuff could be: water, rocket fuel, powdered food,...
All that is needed for a space plane to reach orbit is to put a great big external tank on it, and some solid fuel boosters. Much simpler and more doable than...
... My point exactly. Now think of what a mid-air refueling operation at Mach 10 from 1000's of km of fuel pipeline could do. Never mind what it would cost. ...
... -- Brian Dunbar System Administrator Liftport - The Space Elevator Company brian.dunbar@... aim: bdunbar1967 GMT -6 this email is: [ ] bloggable...
... then ... at Mach 10 from 1000's of km of fuel pipeline could do. Never mind what it would cost. ... Bert Wrote: There are important differences between...
... I think it is safe to say that we all agree that the current Space Shuttle design is and was a bad idea. But that is what happens when the funding for...
http://eugen.leitl.org/A-2000-tonne-per-day-Space-Elevator1.ppt I got this from Kieth Henson today. Maybe his interests are focusing on space again? xponent ...
... Could a kind person out there educate me why "the SE is really no good for people?" Life support and Van Allen belt radiation are the only issues that...
... When people talk about building a Edwards style space elevator they focus on one that can be built sooner and with as little R+D as possible. It's thought...
Yes, exactly. Sometime long after access to space is cheap, perhaps the radiation belts will be removed/destroyed. Perhaps elevators will be strong enough to...
... This is quite a daring comparison between a hypothetical and an actual price. I think it is safe to say that launch price for the gun will go up as the...
... The short answer is that a rocket isn't as cheap as its fuel. Neither are jet airplanes or automobiles. The cost of operating a rocket can be brought down...
... As Ed has said, making it reusable just puts the cost from one column to the other and adds new cost. I do not think it is established yet whether a...
I just don't think you could convince Congress and/or a venture capitalist/Wall Street type to pay for it. ... would ... packaged ... put ... orbit. ... and ...
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