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Wanted: practical launch vehicle, cheap!
http://forum.spaceagemag.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=157
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Author:  Colonizer [ Mon Sep 13, 2010 1:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Wanted: practical launch vehicle, cheap!

similer ya but not sheir it would even work plus how would it stay up and will there be thik enough air to breath. just not shear about it but a space elevator to the ground would be in trouble.

Author:  Intranaut [ Mon Sep 13, 2010 6:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Wanted: practical launch vehicle, cheap!

I'll be honest here I'm not too certain I understood all of that. 'sheir'?
But as to the breathing issue, if that's a problem for you I'd have to question how you plan to deal with the vacuum of space.

Author:  Colonizer [ Mon Sep 20, 2010 1:08 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Wanted: practical launch vehicle, cheap!

sarry im talking about if the planet side station was in the air not on the ground deppending on height for breathing. sheir like sher why not.

Author:  Intranaut [ Mon Sep 20, 2010 7:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Wanted: practical launch vehicle, cheap!

Ooooh 'sure'.
Well I think James said something about the station being able to be held up by the orbiting station. I can't confirm if that's true, but assuming it is, you'd have to be able to land planes, helicopters or even balloons on it. And as I said before, if you can't deal with breathing in a low air pressure environment you really oughtn't be heading into the biggest vacuum in existence.

Author:  Colonizer [ Sat Nov 13, 2010 1:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Wanted: practical launch vehicle, cheap!

is there some kind of laser lift that dosent damge what its lifting from. or can they use a magnetic system to get them selves up. my friend talked about this one magnit 1x1 inch can lift a person on a skate board 3 to 5 stores high without perpulshin think what it could do.

Author:  Intranaut [ Sat Nov 13, 2010 5:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Wanted: practical launch vehicle, cheap!

I'm not certain of how all of it works exactly, but I believe in the space elevator concept the carriage could be powered by a laser.

Author:  Colonizer [ Sat Nov 13, 2010 3:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Wanted: practical launch vehicle, cheap!

If that magnit thing works put it in the armor or shell of the ship could help on lift in to attmispher but not so sure on if the weight is to much.

Author:  RickLewis [ Fri May 27, 2011 4:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Wanted: practical launch vehicle, cheap!

There is an interesting article in the New Scientist ('Beam Riders' 30th April 2011, pp38-41) about another completely different approach to getting payloads into Earth orbit.

According to that approach, as a spacecraft lifts off and rises from the Earth, an Earth-based laser or microwave beam would continuously send energy up to it, which would then heat up either a propellant carried on board ship, or else air which the spacecraft sucked in from the surrounding atmosphere (those are the main two competing variants). Either way, the heated propellant would then be expelled very fast from the spacecraft to keep it accelerating towards orbit.

One problem is that the Earth-based laser or microwave beam would be trying to hit a tiny and continually receding target. This doesn't seem insurmountable and feedback mechanisms can help keep the beam locked on target.

Another problem is that even a laser beam will spread out as it goes, so that some sort of wing may have to be deployed by the spacecraft to catch all the incoming energy.

You might think this is a bonkers approach, but apparently people have been working on the theory for a few decades; the principle has been demonstrated in the laboratory; and Carnegie Mellon University has spent a couple of million on a suitable microwave source for future testing. Apparently, they and NASA hope that this approach could dramatically reduce launch costs compared with chemical rockets.

Author:  RickLewis [ Fri May 27, 2011 4:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Wanted: practical launch vehicle, cheap!

The article itself seems to be for subscribers only on the New Scientist website, but here is a blofg posting about it which also contains a link to the article:

http://views-on-science.blogspot.com/20 ... iders.html

Author:  Colonizer [ Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Wanted: practical launch vehicle, cheap!

interesting... man its good to be back i had forgotten password and such since my main computer crashed

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