Floating launchpad

This has been looked at. Launching from a balloon would reduce your
potential energy requirements slightly, but for getting into orbit the
lion's share of the energy requirement is kinetic. So it helps a tiny bit,
but probably not significantly enough to be worth the investment or
complications. A better launch strategy is some kind of accelerator,
because lots of kinetic energy is what you need to get into orbit, not
altitude.

I once wrote an sf novella about a balloon-borne mass driver launcher, but
the strategy there was to take off through thinner air (reducing energy
losses and heating), and to reduce the intensity of the sonic booms at
ground level. The altitude makes little contribution.

Regards,

Mike Combs

From: phoebos@... [mailto:phoebos@...]
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 9:30 PM
To: spacesettlers@egroups.com
Subject: [spacesettlers] Floating launchpad

Another wacky idea here, but I have a lot of idle time to think on my
mindless job. I have no idea if this idea is even plausible, but I happened
upon an issue of Popular Science about the use of lighter than air craft
that were massive enough to use as tramsportation of enormous payloads, and
that set me to thinking about ... you guessed it...space colonization. If a
payload could be launched from a floating platform miles above the Earth's
surface, could that significantly cut launch costs in the long run?

I once wrote an sf novella about a balloon-borne mass driver launcher, but the strategy there was to take off through thinner air (reducing energy losses and heating), and to reduce the intensity of the sonic booms at ground level. The altitude makes little contribution.

Regards,
Mike Combs
From:
phoebos@... [mailto:phoebos@...]
Sent:
Wednesday, January 24, 2001 9:30 PM
To:
spacesettlers@egroups.com
Subject:
[spacesettlers] Floating launchpad
Another wacky idea here, but I have a lot of idle time to think on my mindless job. I have no idea if this idea is even plausible, but I happened upon an issue of Popular Science about the use of lighter than air craft that were massive enough to use as tramsportation of enormous payloads, and that set me to thinking about ... you guessed it...space colonization. If a payload could be launched from a floating platform miles above the Earth's surface, could that significantly cut launch costs in the long run?