New Space Settlement image

If you are willing to put up the trillions of dollars of start up
capital, you could build a pyramid 50 km tall on the Tibetan plateau,
with a ten kilometer compressive tower on top of it. Climb to the top,
jump off. Gravitational acceleration will get you to orbital velocity,
and you can bounce off the atmosphere. This will put you in a
elliptical orbit with a apogee of about 200km if you do it right.

Bill

--- In spacesettlers@egroups.com, Ian Woollard
> Tom Tucker (Olympia) wrote:
>
> > Ian,
> >
> > Interesting! Can you provide more details on the launch vehicle
and
> > payload for your ~$1300/lb?
>
> Russian Proton launch vehicle. 30-35 tonnes/$60-85 million cost.
That's
> to LEO not GTO. Not suitable for manned flight.
>
> > If we can get to LEO cheaply, then I have a plan for using
nuclear/solar
> > for the balance using tether propulsion. (i.e. www.teathers.com
> > )
>
> Might work. The only problem with tethers is they work best
> at ~200 km altitude. What did you intend to use it for?
>
> > Regards,
> >
> > Tom
> >
> > *From:* Ian Woollard
> >
> > *To:* spacesettlers@egroups.com

> >
> > *Sent:* Saturday, December 23, 2000 4:40 PM
> >
> > *Subject:* Re: [spacesettlers] Re: New Space Settlement image
> >
> > Tom Tucker (Olympia) wrote:
> >
> > > Dr. Omni, etal.,
> >
> > > Comments? Any better ideas for financing once the cost of
LEO is
> > reduced
> > > substantially?
> >
> > The current freight cost to LEO is ~$1300/lb. That's actually
not
> > so bad. And it's going down. There's competition and
reasonable
> > growth in the market (about 15% a year if I remember
correctly.)
> >
> > The main trick to financing is to sort out a business plan
> > that will actually work. Probably LEO-GEO boost would make
> > money. (The boost costs about 3-6x the above amount per pound
> > so it would be a big win to do that using space resources.)
> >
> > > Tom
> > >
> > >
> > > *From:* Dr. Omni
> > >
> > > *To:* spacesettlers@egroups.com
> >
> > >
> > > *Sent:* Thursday, December 21, 2000 7:17 PM
> > >
> > > *Subject:* Re: [spacesettlers] Re: New Space Settlement
image
> > >
> > >
> > > From: "Combs, Mike" >
> > > To: > > >
> > > Sent: Tera-feira, 19 de Dezembro de 2000 15:12
> > > Subject: RE: [spacesettlers] Re: New Space Settlement
image
> > >
> > >
> > > [snikt]
> > > > I agree with your thinking. Many Europeans might be
> > comfortable in a
> > > Bernal
> > > > Sphere, but most Americans and others used to a
little bit
> > more
> > > distance
> > > > between neighbors probably wouldn't settle for
anything
> > less than an
> > > O'Neill
> > > > Cylinder.
> > > >
> > >
> > > Personally, I think that I would be happy even in a
station
> > made of
> > > discarded shuttle fuel tanks. For some reason, in
Brazil most
> > of middle
> > > class people live in apartment buildings 3 to 30
stories high
> > (e.g.,
> > > I live
> > > in a 50 m^2 apartment in a 8th floor), and poor people
often
> > live in
> > > overcrowded slums; also, while American cities are
usually
> > built in flat
> > > lands, many Brazilian cities (like mine) are built on
> > mountains, and
> > > that
> > > also contributes to shorten and concentrate our urban
> > horizons. I
> > > remember
> > > that some newer (and therefore more sprawl-like)
American
> > cities, like
> > > Orlando, seemed very unpractical for me, with too many
open
> > spaces
> > > and too
> > > long distances. (Plus a horrible lack of sidewalks...)
On the
> > other
> > > hand,
> > > older cities like Philadelphia and New York have an
urban
> > density
> > > closer to
> > > what I like.
> > >
> > > The point is: feeling bad or good in a tiny space is
just a
> > matter of
> > > culture. I doubt that there will be no space
colonization
> > just because
> > > people would refuse to live in crowded rotating cans in
space. I
> > > think that
> > > even an American from, let say, New York, would feel
good in