Frederick Sparber wrote:
I disagree with you Jed. The Earth to Orbit energy runs about 120,000
BTU/kilogram easily done with using air-breathing, Piloted-Recoverable
ScramJets and Robot-Auto-Pilot to low earth orbit.
Actually, as Arthur C. Clarke pointed out long ago, with a very good
battery or a hydrogen generator, you could recover the energy it takes to
go up on your way back down, with regenerative braking. The only energy
cost would be for friction. But actually, the dollar cost for fuel is only
a tiny part of the cost of reaching space with rocket technology. With cold
fusion the fuel would cost virtually nothing but there would still be two
big problems:
1. Danger. After 60 years and billions of dollars of development, unmanned
rockets still explode so frequently that insurance rates are sky high. Even
a cold fusion powered vehicle would require extreme performance, high
temperatures and pressures and so on.
2. The enormous expense of manufacturing the vehicles. I do not think that
reusable spacecraft will become practical any time soon because of the
stresses they undergo during spaceflight. A vehicle climbing the space
elevator would undergo little stress.
When does Turner Classic Movies show the Japanese film:
"GODZILLA CHASES JED UP THE SPACE ELEVATOR"? :-)
When that happens you will know we have won the fight for truth, justice
and the American way.
- Jed
