Commercial spaceflight & then what?

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?

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

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

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

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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

In article ,
Hop David wrote:

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

Of course you are. You just don't have the fuel to go any farther. If
my car runs out of gas halfway to San Jose, is it not halfway to San
Jose?

Cheers,
- Joe

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| Joseph J. Strout Check out the Mac Web Directory: |
| http://www.macwebdir.com |
`------------------------------------------------------------------'

Joe Strout wrote:
In article ,
Hop David wrote:


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


Of course you are. You just don't have the fuel to go any farther. If
my car runs out of gas halfway to San Jose, is it not halfway to San
Jose?


Well, that's true enough.

So when we get to LEO all we need to do is stand by the road and stick
out our thumb.

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

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?

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

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

It would show that if there's a tourist demand for suborbital/low
Earth orbit flights, there is quite probably such a demand for
destinations farther out, if the price is right.

And if you've gotten as far as regualar LEO tourism, including modest
'space hotels,' you've got a lot of the technology to go farther, in
hand, already...

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.

On Thu, 07 Aug 2003 15:59:59 -0700, in a place far, far away, Hop
David made the phosphor on my monitor
glow in such a way as to indicate that:

So when we get to LEO all we need to do is stand by the road and stick
out our thumb.

Or fuel up at the orbital depot...

--
simberg.interglobal.org * 310 372-7963 (CA) 307 739-1296 (Jackson Hole)
interglobal space lines * 307 733-1715 (Fax) http://www.interglobal.org

"Extraordinary launch vehicles require extraordinary markets..."
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Joann Evans wrote:


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

Googled "tanker space vehicles". Is Argus a typical model?
www.iafastro.com/archives/pap02/ Aabst/IAC-02-V.P.10.pdf
says a 256.3 MT Argus or a 218.6 MT pure tanker Argus could deliver 9.07
MT to LEO. If there were 320 flights/year either version could provide
LEO fuel at $375/kg.

Is 320 flights a year what is hoped for? That'd be a launch most every
day (excepting Sundays).

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

Hop David wrote:

Joe Strout wrote:
In article ,
Hop David wrote:


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


Of course you are. You just don't have the fuel to go any farther. If
my car runs out of gas halfway to San Jose, is it not halfway to San
Jose?


Well, that's true enough.

So when we get to LEO all we need to do is stand by the road and stick
out our thumb.

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

You have heard of payloads.

The Delta launch vehicle doesn't go all the way to Mars, but the
Rover vehicles it launched will.

Mike Walsh