What are the ways to reduce the cost of starting?

Starting into space has always been very expensive. Typical starting costs are $ 5,000 - $ 10,000 for a pound of payload. Therefore, the launch of a satellite of 1,000 lb (450 kg) can cost up to $ 10 million. Since we started to market things into space, scientists brainstorming ways to reduce the cost of the market to open this limit to more companies, governments and individuals. So far, however, little progress has been made. 25-50 pounds of fuel are required for each pound of useful load running in the low orbit of the Earth. Typical missiles are powered by a combination of liquid hydrogen and oxygen, which must be maintained at very low temperatures by many tons of cryogenic cooling equipment. Imagine a rocket as a very expensive refrigerator of a high building. Thanks to the savings of the range, larger missiles tend to cost less per housing than smaller missiles. But that is just so far. Larger missiles can reduce the cost of starting per pound by a factor of two or three, but not much morethan that.

The most promising routes to significantly reduce start costs include a solution where the useful load does not have to bring fuel during the output. This is one of the most expensive elements of the rocket conventional launch - the rocket must carry enough fuel not only to drive the useful load, but also the remaining fuel on the way up. The lower part of the atmosphere is the densest and most demanding when it comes to the energy for navigation, but this is also the place where the rocket itself is the most difficult and requires very large fuel tanks.

There are several market designs without fuel or low fuel. One of them is the use of the air breathing module (RAMJet) for the first phase of the output using atmospheric oxygen as an oxidative to the on -board oxygen. This was an approach used by SpaceShipone, the first spacecraft built by a private company. Another, more futuristic approach would be to create an electromagnethical accelerator or railway railway to fire the payload so quickly that it reaches the orbit. Unfortunately, most of the useful loads fired into orbit from the railway would experience an acceleration of at least 100 gravity, enough to kill human beings. Therefore, if an electromagnetic accelerator is built to start the universe, it would probably only be used to transmit supplies such as water or steel, rather than astronauts or satellites.

The even more futuristic approach to lowering the start costs would be to create a cosmic elevator, a harness extending from the equator to the counterweight circulating 3,371 km (22,600 miles) above the ground. The only known material is strong enough to be used for such an elevator without collapse under the gravitational force would be carbon nanotubes. Currently, carbon nanotubicles are about $ 25,000 per kilogram, ie $ 25 million per ton. Creating and lift of the seed space would require about 20 tons, which wouldShip prices cost $ 500 million. This is quite expensive, but prices for nanotubes are falling and many scientists believe that the construction of a cosmic elevator could be economically feasible by 2020.