When all else fails, think

It's amazing what happens when you start thinking.  You actually learn a few things that you didn't know before.  Imagine that.  What a concept.

Anyway, my study of rocket engines and plane leads me to this:  you get a lot of help from the atmosphere by using lift.  For example, a 747 can lift off the runway and fly with much less power than a rocket uses to lift itself off the ground.  The rocket uses brute force to lift itself.  The plane uses aerodynamic lift.  The point is that the plane doesn't need so much power and fuel in order to get off the ground.  A rocket succeeds getting airborne with brute force.

It's kinda philosophical.  The rocket is a brute force machine.  The plane is a finesse machine.  Some people have called rockets big and dumb.  They really are big and dumb.  But they are powerful.  You can beat a problem with brute force, or with finesse.  Or a combination of both.  When finesse doesn't work, bring some brute force.  When brute force doesn't work, try some finesse.  Between brute force and finesse, you may be able to lick the launch problem.

Rocket engines are the least efficient at sea level.  They are most efficient in a vacuum.

The rocket equation is tyrannical.  It guarantees big rockets if that's all that you are going to bring to the table.  If you bring some finesse to the table, you may be able to beat the tyranny of the rocket equation and thus lick the launch problem.

How?  Let's consider a seemingly unrelated topic.

Hybrids are becoming popular with automobiles.  Why is that?  Because internal combustion engines have their good points and their bad points.  Electric motors also have their good points and bad.  But put them together and you may have something useful.  That is, you may have something useful.  Not necessarily.  The question is "what problem are you trying to solve?"  Is it fuel efficiency?  Or what exactly is it?  Maybe it is in the end a potential solution for the liquid fuel problem.  Is that the problem they are trying to solve with hybrids?  Yes, in one form or another it is.  Liquid fuels mean oil imports which is a problem in one way or another.  To the left, it is a carbon problem.  To the right, it is economical problem with a national security aspect.  Either way, it is economic.  Hybrids have become popular because they are seen as a potential solution to an economic problem.

With cars and rockets, you may be trying to solve the same problem.  It is an economic problem.  The launch problem is like the liquid fuel problem in that it is primarily an economic problem.  The same kind of solution may be tried with the launch problem as it is with the automobile--- use a hybrid.  Or, to put it another way--- use brute force when it is advantageous to do so, and use finesse when it is not.

When it comes to solving the launch problem, maybe some people ought to consider more carefully what problem it is that they are trying to solve.

If you want to increase access to space, you'd better make it more economic to get there.  Big, dumb rockets won't solve the economic aspect of the launch problem.  It will get you to space, but it is only a big show with lots of fireworks.  That works for politicians, but not for entrepreneurs who want to get to space and make money while doing it.