space on the cheap

[Rsade]

Space can be had on the cheap. How? Simple. Design a solid fuel disposable heavy lift earth to orbit booster. I would just enlarge the shuttles SRBs for the first stage, in a cluster, and use existing hardware for the second and third stage. All solid fuel. (see note one)

Additionally make I would them disposable. What next? Affordable High speed planetary missions. How fast? Faster than anything so far. And cheaper. How cheap? So cheap that a third world country could do it, or bill gates or Sam Walton….well If they had access to nuclear technology…


Note one.... a hybrid third stage may be necessary for anything above low earth orbit i.e. 250 miles or so.

[Rebiu]

A space capable atomic airplane.

Most of the expense comes form the fuel requirements that lead to huge sized vehicles.

The technology already exist for atmospheric atomic flight as well as nuclear powered ion propulsion driven space flight. The main problem is the risk of accidents.

Just a thought.

You should check out the Sea Dragon concept. It involves towing a rocket behind an aircraft carrier and using the carriers reactor to create fuel. The rocket launches form in the water.

[Rsade]

The technology already exist for atmospheric atomic flight as well as nuclear powered ion propulsion driven space flight. The main problem is the risk of accidents. Most of the expense comes form the fuel requirements that lead to huge sized vehicles.

Solid fuel is cheap if not glamorous.How expensive could a glorified bottle rocket be?


Nuke aircraft, interesting and frightening! Yes, While I would not condone atmospheric nuke propulsion, interplanetary nuclear space flight using the crude but effective A bomb and pusher plate low tech method could accelerate a spacecraft to nearly 10% light speed.

This would be much faster than the 100,000 mph or so of the fastest chemical rocket/gravity assist probes that we have sent so far. The risk of a "accident' would be far less than most other applications of space technology such as say using the outdated and inefficient space shuttle to get into orbit.


btw The sea dragon is a cool name.

[Jay-qu]

Originally Posted by Rsade

Solid fuel is cheap if not glamorous.How expensive could a glorified bottle rocket be?

Expensive. Space is expensive at the moment, if you actually have an idea on how to make it cheap then post it so we can see instead of making these broad claims without any evidence.. For starters you say a solid fuel, of what chemical composition do you propose?

[Rsade]

Originally Posted by Jay-qu

Expensive. Space is expensive at the moment, if you actually have an idea on how to make it cheap then post it so we can see instead of making these broad claims without any evidence..

Space is expensive because of the lies our government is telling us. At best our space program exists to support military endeavors. Wake up and smell the tang brother.

The proof on cheap space is the titian strap on boosters and the shuttle SRBs, for example. Simple solid fuel, no moving parts. Could be built on an assembly line. CHEAP!!!!

Posted and obvious. Next question.

Oh yeah, get the bumbling government out of it or make them immediately accountable and instigate a true open bid process to aerospace contractors instead of the _______ buddy system NASA has now.

I cannot make it much more simple than that. Hire me NASA and I will put it in black and white on how to get the launch to orbit price of a kg of payload down to the hundreds of dollars instead of the tens of thousands that it is now.


Any questions?

[Eclogite]

Originally Posted by Rsade

Any questions?

Certainly. But given your belligerent attitude and posts entirely devoid of even a token costing, I see little point in asking them. Did you open the thread in order to throw out invective and vent your frustrations, or did you want a serious discussion?

[Qfwfq]

Rsade,

there's no need to reply to people like that, or to use language that little old ladies might not appreciate. Some people find it antiaesthetic. Be respectful.

[ldsoftwaresteve]

Rsade, as much as I might want to agree with your opinion of government bungling driving up the cost, it isn't likely that anyone would abdicate the opposite position based upon your argument. Quite the opposite. If it's my reason you want to influence, then reason with me.
There are some deadly but good dudes in these hallowed halls.
Denegrate and I'll dissociate.

[Boerseun]

How to make space cheap?

Easy.

Get Burt Rutan on the job, and get rid of the beaurocracy that's swamping NASA in a flood of paper.

NASA ends up paying $100 for a hammer because it has to go through five thousand committees, and that's just to decide whether the hammer won't maybe work better if it was completely redesigned.

I'm sure a committed individual with enough money and brainpower can get to orbit with off-the-shelf technology.

Reinventing the wheel everytime you wanna hook a cart behind a horse can get prohibitively expensive, and time-consuming.

[Jay-qu]

Originally Posted by Rsade

The proof on cheap space is the titian strap on boosters and the shuttle SRBs, for example. Simple solid fuel, no moving parts. Could be built on an assembly line. CHEAP!!!!

I do not consider this proof Rsade, proof comes with numbers

as for the off the shelf tech, can someone tell me what aisle the titan rockets are in