CARGO SPACE-BRIDGE : MASS DRIVERS



---------MASS DRIVER--------------------
++A launch capsule is accelerated to high speed in a vacuum tube
  by means of electromagnetic levitation.
++Propelled on into orbit by an array of lasers.
++Trouble with a rocket is that it has to carry it s fuel with it.
++Escape /\V of Earth = 11.4kps 
++System where fuel stays on ground and only the payload moved.
++Electric locomotive.  supertrain. maglev.
  superconducting electro-magnets.
  Super-conductors levitate because they repel lines of magnetic force.
++Payload capsule rides magnetic force wave in superconducting
  track  ahead of the capsule attract it, magnets behind repel it.
++Electromagnetic accelerator. "Mass drivers" in an evacuated tube.
++High-speed airlocks. allow a permanent vacuum.  launch tube 125km. 10gs.
++Cargo capsules - colonizing space requires huge tones of mundane
  materials , immune to acceleration 45km.  Linear induction motors.  
  More voltage to handle higher magnetic thrust. 50000 m/s
++A kilogram of payload to orbit for less than a $1 of electricity.
++Ring capacitor w/ a volume of 182000 m^3 required to store the 300000kwh 
  needed to launch a 14ton capsule.  50000 kwh capacitor needs superconducting    cable just over 6' in diameter.
++From the launch tube, elevation of 6000 meters, 5 km/s.
  Launch capsule will ride an array of laser beams.
++Beam of light and a block of ice.  Ice block, and water superheated to 10000C
  flashes to steam.  Superheated steam expands at 10000m/s.  
++Rocket thrust, divided by the mass of fuel- specific impulse Isp.
++Laser induced specific impulses at high as 2000seconds.
++Readily available , environmentally safe, and low molecular weight.
  Water, in the form of ice, meets all these criteria.
++4ton slab of ice, 40cm (16") thick.
++at 40% efficiency, laser will produce 100N of thrust / megawatt of laser power.
---------FEL----------------------------
++1.5 GW of laser power.
  6 250MW lasers combine.
  This will reduce Ramman scattering and thermal blooming.
++Free electron laser (FEL).  A cyclotron is a closed magnetic ring w/ charged 
  nuclear particles, like electrons, accelerated to HIGH velocities.
++Electrons are suspended in a frictionless magnetic field and propelled
  to high speeds by waves of magnetic force.
++Energized electrons leave the cyclotron as a beam of particles
  moving at nearly the speed of light.  Electromagnets wiggle the 
  electron beam.  Releasing photons.
++Exactly the same wavelength; the light is coherent - lased.
++FELs can be 99% efficient.
++Tunable, adjusted to produce any wavelength light.
++1. The laser beam must carry a tremendous load of energy.
  2. The beam must remain tightly focused at long ranges.
  3. The energy must pass easily through the atmosphere.

---------CARGO SLED---------------------
++700km, below space is atmosphere.
  Atmospheric density falls exponentially w/ height, cut in half every 5.6km.
++Superheated to around 30000C (54000F)
++Carbon-carbon nose and leading edges of the space shuttle at 1730F
++5600m above the denser half of the atmosphere. 6.5kps.  1000times ten seconds.
++Ten seconds, after another thousand fold reduction . 15sec.
++1.5 GW of laser power accel at 1.25g.  12.2 m /s^2.  The capsule attains
  orbital velocity in just over 4 minutes.
++Glider like the space shuttle, wave riders.  surf on their own shock waves.
++Sonic boom is minimized.  Compression drag, w/ attendant heating 
  of capsule reduced.
++Onboard retrorockets and reenter the atmosphere.
++$25bil for the system; 300000 kwh of power to launch a 14ton capsule.
  Net weight of payload delivered to orbit will be 5000 kg / launch.
++465 m/s due to the rotation of the earth.

---------LAUNCH-------------------------
++Volcanic mountain located near the equator.
++Virtually every other part of the system will be a 100m underground.
++It is not possible to launch our capsules through clouds.
++Between seasons, rain and clouds are rare.

---------MAKING TUNNEL------------------
++Tunneling on a huge scale.
++To tunnel eight meters in diameter = $8200 / m.
  Hydraulics (Water jets at high million PSI) technology, cut cost by 40%.
++first 45km heavy duty electromagnets, accelerating payloads at 30gs.


                               B  B
                              _/ /\_
                           __// /   \_ 
                          /  / /      \_  <--- Equatorial Mountain
                       __/  / /         \_
        ___________________/ /            \_
        __________A_________/
        <-----125km-------->

A = Superconducting Electromagnetic Levitation Sled 
B = 6 FEL (Free Electron Laser) Array 250MW/laser = 1.25GW
C = Use 4ton slab of ice, 40cm (16") thick.
    Use lasers to vaporize, produce thrust for cargo capsule.