Cheap Space

There are few things in science as aptly named as Space. Space is truly vast and really nothing but space. So why do we want cheap access to space? And why is space so hard?

For many space is the last frontier, the last place to find unexplored lands and planets, a place that has not really been conquered yet by Mankind. But there are some more practical reason to go to space. Few people would argue the utility of services like telecommunications, GPS and global "live" broadcasts. Also there is a lot of science that we can do in space that is difficult or plain impossible to do here on earth. I will not address the question of why but will look at why its so hard and expensive to get to space.

To get to space, or more specifically, Low Earth Orbit (LEO), we must accelerate our space vehicle to about 7 500 m/s at roughly 150-200km above the earth. Getting to LEO is the hard part, once there you are almost half way to anywhere in the solar system. Travailing over 7 kilometres every second is no easy task and this is where the "hard" part comes from. Nothing gets close except rocket engines, and this is where is gets expensive.

Rocket engines, which I will discus at a later date, run at extremely hot temperatures and pressures. In order to contain these forces expensive materials are usually used. But worst of all, rocket engines are operated with fine design margins, and then generally fail often, when compared to similar technology in other fields. But most of all the rocket engines we have today are relics of the Cold War.

Many seem to have forgotten that the whole World was terrified of a nuclear war for many decades. ICBMs were the precursor to the rockets that got mankind into space, and space was and still is very important for military strategy. We were afraid and budgets were very large for space programs since these programs were viewed from a strategic standpoint. With no Cold War we would not have gone to the moon when we did, and there would not be any NASA or space shuttle. Thats the history of space, and its the legacy we are now stuck with.

But it will not stay this way forever. Many believe that we can get cheap safe space access for the masses, and I am one of them. This blog is about my thoughts on the matter. What we need to do and what we are doing wrong. Most of the blogs will be technical, rather than political. However this field is filled with more politics than science and political issues will not be ignored. I will cover many of the ideas that have been suggested to reach this goal, but will attempt to really focus on what is achievable with todays technology.

I hope you will like it.