Friday, November 5, 2010

ISS waystation to the cosmos

In my post,

What could done about the ISS, I began:

The ISS then would be saved for a long as possible, and integrated into a series of space infrastructure improvements that would facilitate the development of space resources.

With this post, I suggest that the ISS could be sent to a Earth Moon Lagrangian point (L4, L5) and used to as a way station for deeper space missions.  It would be costly to de orbit the ISS and even costlier still to put up more infrastructure that will be necessary to undertake missions to the Moon, asteroids, Mars, and beyond.  Why not save that expense by recycling the ISS and using it a way station?

A Lagrangian point has many virtues that could be quite useful for deep space missions.  The first virtue is that any deep space launch from this point would not require an escape from a deep gravity well.  A second virtue is that it would require very little station keeping, or perhaps none at all.  A third virtue is that when these virtues combine, it then would be useful as a space bank in that it could collect and redistribute assets ( fuel, rockets etc.) when needed.

Getting the ISS to a Lagrangian point could be done by a combination of ion engines and conventional chemical rocket engines.  It may not require any new heavy lift rocket because it is already in low Earth orbit. Getting it higher to a Lagrange point would take a boost.  I am guessing that this is feasible.

Any future missions would be to the way station and then beyond.  The way station could be supplied from the Earth.  Its capabilities can also be expanded.  Much more mass can be deposited there, which in turn, can enable mass to redeposited in useful places elsewhere, such as the Moon.  It could serve as a collection point from the Moon as well.  The Moon itself is a much easier gravity well to escape from, since it requires only about 5% of what Earth launches require.  Ultimately, it can be a collection point from the NEOs (Near Earth Objects) which can be mined for useful materials.  These useful materials can be used for future rocket launches and life support.  In this way, capabilities are enhanced for future deeper space missions, such as a mission to Mars.

Update:  I thought about this a little more and came up with these thoughts.  1) in space, there is almost no matter, but lots of energy of various kinds  2) on the ground, there is much matter, but it takes a lot of energy to get out of the gravity well.  The trick to travelling in space is to not use matter, but to use energy instead.  Energy is plentiful, but matter is not.  You want to get the matter up there only once, not time and time again.  Each time takes great amounts of energy to get out of the gravity well.  Then you get back down the well and have to do it all over again.  If you launch what you need only once, then you leave the well behind.

Subsequent launches take less energy, where it is plentiful.  If you have the matter you need, then all you have to do is to exploit the energy available so you can go somewhere.  You need reaction mass, but you can get it from asteroids.  Gravity wells for asteroids hardly exist.   So, you can collect all the fuel you need in order to go somewhere from asteroids.  This compares to having to lift the fuel off the ground out of that deep gravity well called Earth.  So, the solution for the problem is to move mass where you need it and the easiest way to do that is to use energy from the sun and mass from asteroids and collect them in a place that is convenient to Earth so people can get to and from it without much trouble.  That's the idea here.

You need various kinds of matter, but it boils down to 2 purposes.  The first purpose is for life support.  The second purpose is for propulsion.  Water would work just fine.  Mine asteroids for water.  Use the water for life support and propulsion.  Break down the water into oxygen and hydrogen.  You can use the hydrogen as reaction mass and breathe the oxygen.  You can use the water to support animal life and plant life.  Grow you own food in space with asteroidal water.  If you need more carbon, you can mine that too off the asteroids.  You can get all the matter you need for life support and propulsion from the asteroids.

If you need more, the Earth is nearby.

For complex structures and matter not easily found on asteroids, you can use the Earth as a supply point.  You would still need to launch from the Earth, but the matter needed would be much reduced.  And that would make it cheaper.  For complex machines, the Earth would be the best source of supply.  Their high value would be a justifiable reason to launch from the deep gravity well.   Launch the complex machinery from
the Earth and the low value stuff can come from asteroids and the Moon.

Therefore, solution to the launch problem may not require more powerful rockets.
The launch problem exists because it costs so much to launch.  Reduce the number
of launches that will accomplish the same thing and you solve the problem.

No comments: