Hop David wrote:

Joe Strout wrote:
In article ,
Hop David wrote:


Suppose a space tourism market does come to pass: Rich folk ride the
descendants of an X-prize winner to enjoy the view and weightlessness.
The flights would be suborbital or low earth orbit, no?


Suborbital at first, LEO later.


Would this make Mars, the moon, or even high earth orbit more accessible?


Yes. As the saying goes, if you can reach LEO, you're halfway to
anywhere in the solar system.

- Joe

ISTR from another thread that the Roton could slow down more than the
shuttle in re-entry to the upper atmosphere because it's mostly empty
fuel tank gives it more surface area and less density.

If you achieve LEO with an empty fuel tank you're not halfway there.

Hop
http://clowder.net/hop/index.html

That's what tanker vehicles (where additional fuel is the payload)
are for....

If you're already in LEO, it doesn't take nearly as much more to
reach Earth escape. Indeed, if you've got a small VTVL SSTO in low
orbit, and fully refuel it (or have a still-larger SSTO that can put it
into LEO fully fueled), it now has enough propellant to leave Earth
orbit, land on the Moon, lift off, and return to Earth.