Will We Ever Stop Using Rockets to Get to Space?

[Judi Lynn]

By Ross Pomeroy
July 14, 2018

On March 16, 1926 in Auburn, Massachusetts, American engineer Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. The flight lasted a mere 2.5 seconds and ended anticlimactically 181 feet away in a snow-covered cabbage field, but it would prove to be one of the most significant flights in history.

Ninety-two years later, liquid-fueled rockets are the norm for spaceflight. Towering, explosive behemoths standing sixty times taller than Goddard's original rocket blast humans beyond the boundaries of Earth's atmosphere. Each launch is a true spectacle, offering testament again and again to humankind's collective potential to transcend barriers and reach new heights through brains and cooperation.

But will rockets remain our primary transportation to space into the far flung future? Or will they eventually be replaced by new methods and technologies?

Rockets, after all, are far from perfect. Fourteen astronauts have died during launches. By chemical engineer Don Pettit's calculation, "sitting on top of a rocket is more dangerous than sitting on a bottle of gasoline!" He ought to know, he's done it a few times. Pettit has flown five missions to the International Space Station and has tallied 369 days, 16 hours, and 41 minutes in space. At age 62, he's NASA's oldest active astronaut.

More:
https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2018/07/14/will_we_ever_stop_using_rockets_to_get_to_space.html

[Kablooie]

1. I already have.

I only use imagination.

NASA, on the other hand, has already implemented an ion drive. The Dawn spacecraft, which was launched in 2007 to explore the asteroid belt, is propelled by three xenon ion thrusters. It looks like bright blue light and accelerates very slowly but can reach speeds of 90,000 mph and uses very little fuel.


NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) ion thruster in operation.

[DetlefK]

4. Ion-drive is for flights in space, but too weak for flights from planet to space.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

2. Space elevator could be built by 2035, says new study

https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2018/07/14/will_we_ever_stop_using_rockets_to_get_to_space.htm

Science fiction writer also posited such an idea in his book, "Friday."

[DetlefK]

5. Nice idea, but we don't have materials strong enough to build this.

The rope would have to be strong enough to carry its own weight. We don't have a material that would be strong enough for that.

[kysrsoze]

8. Apparently, carbon nanotubes can do it, but this is in its infancy

Of course, carbon fiber everything was unimaginable a few decades ago. I didn’t think carbon fiber bikes would become affordable so quickly, and it’s starting to happen in the automotive industry too.

It’ll take a while, but carbon nanotubes will eventually hit economies of scale.

[tirebiter]

3. A big fucking cannon

[DetlefK]

6. Then you can't send astronauts to space.

The big problem is not overcoming the gravity. The problem is air-drag.

To counter the air-drag, you would have to shoot the capsule with such a high acceleration that the astronauts inside would get killed instantly by the G-forces.

[NBachers]

7. Dr. Steven Greer and Disclosure are trying to do it through deep consciousness and meditation.

http://siriusdisclosure.com/event/cosmic-consciousness-cosmic-contact-dr-greer-in-san-francisco-area-july-22-2018/

Dr. Greer will share knowledge on :

How advanced trans-dimensional ET technologies interface with the coherent meditative and thought states during Close Encounters of the 5th Kind (CE-5) events.

How ET Technology Assisted Consciousness systems work.

Why our experiences with ET civilizations are a glimpse into the human future, where the primary science will be the Science of Consciousness.

[TreasonousBastard]

9. The next Einstein will show us how. It took a while for Newton to explain gravity, and...

some more time for Einstein to show us what Newton missed.

I mean, really, who woulda thought space was curved? Einstein himself, however, couldn't put it together into some kind of unified theory, much less unified laws.

Eventually, somebody will, though, find a way to peek into those other dimensions and invisible forces and holes in space-time and we will be on our way.

If we don't kill ourselves first.