Space port/dock/ship yard location

If you wanted to build an orbit facility for interplanetary (or even
interstellar) craft
Where would you locate it?
Earth Moon L1?
Earth Sun L2?
Some other location?

Just my $0.02

Space Cadet

derwetzelsDASHspacecadetATyahooDOTcom


Moon Society - St. Louis Chapter

http://www.moonsociety.org/chapters/stlouis/

The Moon Society is a non-profit educational and
scientific foundation formed to further scientific
study and development of the moon.

On Aug 24, 9:55*am, Space Cadet wrote:
If you wanted to build an orbit facility for interplanetary (or even
interstellar) craft
Where would you locate it?
Earth Moon L1?
Earth Sun L2?
Some other location?

Just my $0.02

Space Cadet

derwetzelsDASHspacecadetATyahooDOTcom

Moon Society - St. Louis Chapter

http://www.moonsociety.org/chapters/stlouis/

The Moon Society is a non-profit educational and
scientific foundation formed to further scientific
study and development of the moon.

I would build a commercial space launch center at the following
locations on Earth;

1) a deserted island chain in Indonesia, on the equator
2) at the mouth of the Amazon River in Brazil
3) at the uranium mines on the Congo River in Gabon

I would build space launch infrastructure and vehicles at major
shipping ports in Europe, California, US East Coast, South Korea, and
Japan and have the parts assembled at each of the launch centers.

These launch centers will fly a fleet of approximately a dozen each,
of fully reusable 3-stage hydrogen/oxygen propelled vehicles that
place 1,000 tonnes each into GEO, with a launch vehicle with a 125,000
tonne GLOW.

They fly generally along the equator in an Easterly direction, and
the first stage booster is recovered downrange from the launch point,
at the next launch center. There it is refurbished and reused. It is
then launched Eastward again, and reused again. After the third
launch, it returns to the original launch point. The second stage,
attains LEO with 5,000 tonne upper stage, and deorbits at the launch
center - and is reused. The third stage, boosts 1,000 tonnes into
GEO, a six hour orbit, or Lunar Free Return trajectory, a 7 day orbit,
or a mars transfer trajectory that returns the booster to Earth in
precisely 24 months. The booster lands at the most convenient launch
center when it returns to Earth.

In GEO a solar power satellite is deployed, capalbe of generating 27
GW of power which is beamed to users across the face of the Earth
simultaneously in 10 kW increments. The 1,000 tonne lunar spacecraft
lands 200 tonnes on the lunar surface and returns it to Earth. One-
way, returning empty, permits the spacecraft to up this to 400 tonnes
one way. A similar quantity is landed on mars by this 1,000 tonne
stage.

A fleet of 36 vehicles for the planet permit one flight every two days
for each launch center - a total of 1.5 flights per day 547 flights
per year. This is 500 flights for solar power satellites, 26 flights
per year to the moon, and the balance of flights for other launches -
including satellite constellation launch into polar orbit, deep space
exploration of the solar system, test satellites for asteroidal
intercept and movement and so forth.

On the moon, Tycho Crater or Copernicus Crater recommend themselves
since they are rather large, deep and recent. Tycho is 100 my old and
Copernicus 800 my old. They're likely to have dug up some things of
interest

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_(crater)

Its easily reached along minimum energy trajectories from Earth, and
so is a good landing point. Tycho was chosen by Robert Heinlein as
the moonbase location in his science fiction story, Moon is a Harsh
Mistress for that reason. A mass driver built there can shoot
payloads to the Lagrange points, and to Earth, along minimum energy
trajectories.

On Mars, I pick Isidis Planitia at the border with Syrtis Major, its
easy to get to from a minimumenergy orbit, and its smooth, and its
likely to have lots of water underfoot or nearby - temperatures are
relatively mild - so, its a good place to start.

I see sending 36 ships each with 1,000 tonne stages, to Mars, salvo
launched every synodic period. This requires additional second
stages and payload stages for the 'mars fleet' - however, this
provides the means to send 36,000 tonnes to mars every 2 years - which
provides the means to support up to 18,000 people on the red planet -
until water is developed. Then, over 100,000 people may be supporte
by this modest fleet.

The moon has 26 flights per year dedicated to it on a regular 2 week
basis. This provides 26,000 tonnes per year - which supports 26,000
people on the moon, until water is found and developed. Then, over
150,000 people may be supported by this same fleet.

At $1 million per tonne, this program costs $62 billion per year. No
worries, the residuals from power sales and communications services
provide more than double this amount each year, providing means to
expand the fleet, maintain the fleet and infrastructure, as well as
fly the fleet efficiently, and do substantial research in new
propulsion and space faring technologies.

Vehicle sizes increase - 5x with each added stage, so the 5,000 tonne
LEO stage, becomes a deep space stage, with the addition of a 500,000
tonne booster, and the 100,000 tonne, booster is modified to operate
as a second stage.. in this way, vehicle sizes are increased as
demand increases and fleet size increases and launch rate increases -
to increase human presence across the solar system.

Gross Lift Off Weight (GLOW) scales the size of populations off
world. Increasing numbers on the moon to over three million and the
numbers on mars to over two million by merely increasing vehicle size
and launch rate. Though with chemical propulsion, there is still a
large fleet of craft launched every synodic period to Mars while
regular flights operate between Earth and Moon.

Large 10,000 tonne GEO spacecraft - power sats, that are 500 sq km in
area, and generate 273 GW of laser energy beamed by conjugate optics
to any number of users in 10,000 watt increments - at 650 W/cm2 at
1,100 nm wavelength.

Deep space stage extend human presence beyond Mars to the asteroid
belt, where a survey is completed of all the small objects in the
inner solar system. Earth crossing asteroids are collected into
sunsynchronous polar orbits. A polar launch/recovery operation is set
up at Labrador, Norway, and the Gobi Desert. Here communications
satellite constellations as well as factory satellite constellations
are launched into sun-synch polar orbits.

Asteroids, and asteroidal fragments are navigated into polar orbits
near the tele-robotic factories and solar power satellites beam energy
to those factories, to provide power for mining, smelting, processing,
forming, manufactring, assembly, and powering mass driver rail guns to
deliver products throughout human space, including Earth's surface.
People anywhere can work anywhere else on Earth, and in LEO
telerobotically 24/7.

Once sufficient capacity is available on orbit, very large satellites
are constructed on orbit, and the launchers described earlier provide
LEO service only, whilst deep space stages operate from Earth orbit,
near the asteroidal feedstocks.

Large pressure vessels are constructed to provide farmlands, and
forests on orbit. This allows a vast expansion in the production of
food and fiber on orbit.

Three asteroids massing 10 billion kg to 20 billion kg each arrive
every day, and provide sufficient raw materials to supply every man
woman and child in the solar system with 4 tons of products per year -
ending human reliance on the biosphere of Earth - which returns to the
wild.

Garbage on Earth is tossed back to orbit via 'space fountain' based
rail guns, operating at the equatorial locations, powered by solar
energy. Garbage is fully recycled on each of the major human
outposts, though in special situations, high value garbage is returned
to where it has the highest value.

Very large solar power satellites designed to operate inside the orbit
of Mercury, operate at the terawatt level, and beam energy with lasers
across the solar system, providing advanced rocket capabilities,
improved power levels, and expanded populations off-world by providing
ultra-low-cost low-impact power to all.

Large pressure vessels are constructed on orbit, and deorbited to
float as hot air type balloons in the skies of Earth and Mars and
Venus. These are powere by laser beams from orbit, and are supplied
from orbit. On Earth these cloud nine sky cities provide a special
role in removing people from repressive regimes and giving them
resources jobs a stable currency, and basic human services throughout
the planet - during humanity's transition to a truly civlized world.

Laser powered rocketry and laser light sails lower the cost and
increase the frequency of interplanetary travel, while swelling off-
world populations begin to deplete population levels on Earth.

Laser powered propulsive skins provide personal ballistic transport on
Earth and around the other human settlements in the solar system.
These personal transport systems are also capable of flying off-world
to support vessels on orbit. These vessels provide deep space
capability.

Large pressure vessels built on orbit, are adapted to space homes,
which are purchased by individuals to provide a very high estate level
of living. Tele-robots on each estate have workers report to work
there each day for a few minutes, rather than transport materials from
farm to factory to store to home. All the equipment is present on the
space home, and people arrive telerobotically and put the same time
and effort into processing estate products to whatever is desired.

Laser light sails and space homes operate together with laser rockets
to set out on voyages deep in the solar system, developing Kuiper belt
objects, and ultimately transporting people star to star, once
software develops to automate thes robotic systems or space homes
travel in sufficiently large fleets to have a self sustaining
population of people with requisite skills nearby - or some mix.

High performance rockets and laser light sails combined with laser
driven propulsive skin personal spaceccraft, make a seamless
transition between planetary or moon surface, space habitat, high
speed transit to another planet moon or larger space habitat -
possible. This is the golden age of space travel. The numbers of
people on Earth fall dramatically as the number of humans spread
across the nearby stars of the Perseus arm.

As population levels fall on Earth, smaller cities and towns
depopulate and are returned to nature. Eventually all but the most
important historical cities are removed from Earth's surface.
Eventually even the space ports decline in importance as personal
ballistic travel and direct delivery from orbit replace major movement
of industrial products. Large spacecraft are stored on orbit in large
pressure vessels filled with low pressure dried nitrogen and
maintained by robotic labor launch/landing facilities for the craft
are reduced to the minimum required to support emergency operations.

The Earth is returned to a nature preserve as people move to orbit.
Similar shifts in populations occur on the moon and mars as the number
of habitats on orbit increase in the skies of these worlds.

Ultimately, a ring of 188,495 solar power stations, each 100 km
diameter orbit 3 million km above the center of the sun. Each
station produces 16 Quadrillion watts of power - approximately 1,000x
today's power usage for the entire human race. 188,495 of these
stations support not only the vast infrastructure described here, but
also the projection of this infrastructure to nearby stars using laser
powered light sails. One of the first payloads sent to nearby stars,
are stations just like this, to provide a means to continue expansion,
and to send products materiel and people back to Sol creating a
highway of laser light in the sky.

Large fresnel optics the size of a small moon, beam energy from near
the sun's surface to points 1,000 AU away, where large mirrors use the
gravity lensing of the sun itself to project sensible energy many many
lightyears away - these waves of energy are preprogrammed and
announced with radio telescope signals producing both an interstellar
internet, AND a standard protocol for riding the waves of interstellar
commerce.

That is, since it is impossible for these light beams to respond to
starships dozens of lightyears away, these waves of powerful light
that are sweeping light sails from star to star, might be thought of
metaphorically as waves crashing on a beach, with a regular rythm
announced by radio telescope signals. So, arriving and departing
starships listen to the 'subspace' signals and know where and when to
be somewhere to ride a wave of light energy. Starships talk by radio
with other nearby starships to coordinate use of the resource, which
repeats regularly. These are akin to public trails across the
cosmos.

In this way, urban humans, become sub-urban and then tribal again,
spanning the space frontier while living standards rise to impossibly
high levels by today's standards, limited as we are to the resources
of one world.

The 4 million solar mass - supermassive black hole at the center of
our galaxy, spins at 37% the speed of light, and is 30,000 light years
away. It is possible to send signals around that object in a way that
returns the signal back to Earth at a point in time earlier than it
left. With this reversed time link, it should be possible to send
signals back and forth across the cosmos in real time!

That is, a small portion of a powerful radio pulse sent from Earth
should be capable of being detected back on Earth at the same time, as
well as shortly before and shortly after it was sent, since a portion
of the energy travels through many paths around the black hole. More
on another topic with that.

Just as oil fields are an important feature on today's world, sun
orbiting solar power satelllites will be an important feature in the
solar system (and other star systems) as humanity begins to spread out
among the stars.

100 km diameter solar collectors/solar pumped lasers operating 3
million km radius from the center of the Sun, are exposed to sunlight
2500x as intense as sunlight on Earth - and precisely the levels of
the focal points of GEO orbiting powersats.

These orbit above the sun completing a circuit in 1 day. 188,495 of
these satellites form a ring around the sun. At 60% efficiency they
each generate 16e+15 watts. Collectively they generate 3e+21 watts.
This is 176 million times the energy used by humanity today.

Laser light sails produce 1 kg of force for every 1.47 GW of power.
This ring of power satellites can produce a total of 2 trillion kg of
force.

Accelerating a spacecraft in open space at 1 gee for 6 months attains
1/2 light speed. Thus in a year, 4 trilion kg, or 4 billion metric
tons of materials can be shipped in and out of the solar system half
light speed by this ring of power stations via laser light sail.

With a population of 8 billion people half a ton per person per year
is attainable.

100 such bands produce a dark stripe 10,000 km wide on the solar
surface and provide a means to trans-ship 400 billion metric tons of
materials per year enough to supply a populaiton of 8 billion with 4
tons per year, plus send 5% of this population out of the solar system
each year aboard multi-generation starships that mass approximately
920 tonnes per occupant.

Less than 0.1% of one solar power satellite provides for ALL the
present needs of Earth. The output of a single solar power satellite
(of the 18 million contemplated here) provides for ALL the energy
needs of a solar system, wherein everyone of 8 billion people have an
interplanetary spaceship and use it as often as Americans use cars.

To see why this is we can look at thust obtained for a given amount of
power;

type Ve=m/s Watts

helicopter 89.4 438
jet 322.0 1,578
chemical rocket 4460.0 21,859
laser rocket 29406.6 144,125
laser sail c 1.47E+09

It takes 1 million times as much energy to lift a vehicle by light
sail as it does to lift it by VTOL jet. Also, nearly 1,000 tonnes per
person is required for a self sustaining multi-generation starship,
whilst only a fraction of a tonne is neede for an automobile sized
flying machine. Though, interplanetary ships can add several tonnes
per person, and personal spacehomes mount to well over 100 tonnes per
person.

Pushing everyone around the solar system continuously in their own
space colony uses only 8% of the total energy of the 100 band system.
While 90% of the energy is used to accelerate 5% of the population to
half light speed with a laser light sail. 1% is used to propel raw
materials where they're needed and process them into useful products,
and another 1% is use to provide continual access to personal
ballistic transport on planetary surfaces. Everything else is in the
noise level.

Communicating with the ergosphere of the supermassive black hole at
the center of our galaxy, may provide a means for instantaneous
communications across vast distances. This will allow telerobotic and
telecommunications services to tie together distant human outposts
across human space.

To form spaceways from star to star, requires that well collimated
beams be formed that are approximately 1/8th light year in length.
The starships are accelerate by light pressure at 1 gee for 6 months.
A 500,000 tonne interstellar space home, with 500 people on board,
requires 6 months of beam time. This implies 400,000 ships are in the
beam at any one time. 438,000 separate beams operating in parallel
provide a means to handle 100 ships per hour.

Ships navigate beyond interplanetary space out to a distance of 5
billion km by riding beams generate directly by the bands at the solar
surface. Beyond 150 billion km, and 60 days, the starship takes up
its appointed 'slot' which it will ride for the next four months.
This beam is formed by the stations orbiting the sun, sending laser
energy to a bveam directing on the opposite side of the sun, 150
billion km distant, which then reflects the energy back around the sun
using the sun's gravity to accurately focus the light into the
beam.,

Six stations are set up far from the sun to beam energy along this
path to the sun's six nearest neighbors. ALL stars in human space
have a similar setup.

Furtermore, along with the poer laser beam, there is a communicatoins
laser setup, that maintains constant internet connection throughout
the transport network.

One of the most amazing features is a laser communications unit that
beams communications from this network to the supermassive black hole
at the galaxy's core. Here laser energy is returned to the past - so
that instantaneous communications may take place between parties some
distance apart. This is also highly useful in dealing with
telepresence and telerobotics - and obtaining services and software
across vast distances in real time. The ability to signal through
time also provides a powerful predictive and security function.

While ships are made anywhere there is energy material and labor
available, they will gather at the 'entrance ramps' between stars -
and in addition to the 400,000 outbound ships in the outbound land,
there are an additional 400,000 ships on the inbound lane as well, for
each star. Six nearest neighbors in space, for each star system, is
supported by a dozen large laser refroming satellites - at 1,000 AU
from the sun. This is all powered by 18 million super sized power
satellites orbiting in 100 bands around the sun's equator 3 million km
up.