What kind of space travel in development is the cheapest in resources and dollars per pound to put into orbit?

Answer 1

A giant Sling Shot

Answer 2

Hmm...well, a mass driver is an attractive option but not the most efficient. I believe the space elevator is the most efficient method of getting a payload into orbit. It is under development - or research and scale model testing at any rate - but it will be a very long time before we can actually build one.

It involves a weight such as an asteroid in geostationary orbit (i.e. stationary relative to a given point on the ground) connected to an Earth station by very long, very tough tethers. A "car" then hauls itself up and down on regular electric power which may be stored on the car or transmitted to it via the tether.

Relative to mass drivers, scramjets or chemical rockets it will be a slow means of getting into orbit, but for a very low cost per pound. This is because electric power is cheaper than rocket or jet propellant, but the elevator does not need as much electricity as the mass driver since it does not need to accelerate the payload to breakneck speed to escape gravity.

The challenge of an elevator is building the system to begin with. It is feasible to move an asteroid into Earth orbit with careful planning. The Earth station can be built easily. The biggest problem is the tether. The tether needs to be extremely strong and will likely need to be built using nanotechnology - that is built from the molecular level up. We are just beginning to scrape nanotechnology but we know it is possible.

Answer 3

Why the obsession with traveling swifter than mild? we could initiate with some goals all of us comprehend are interior of our carry close - like Mars, as an occasion. lots of the examine on area is going hand in hand with protection stress progression - there are various spin-offs between the two which make the two much less high priced. the fast answer to your question is that if all protection stress spending interior the U. S. became directed into area examine, the U. S. might the two be a radioactive wilderness or ruled from Moscow via now.

Answer 4

There's this really large slingshot, see...

There is no cheap way into space given known physics. There are no apparent loopholes, either. Nobody is volunteering Mt. Kilimanjaro (latitude is important - 1000 mph for free for eastward launch at teh Equator) to host a purely huge linear induction track.

The problem is less altitude than range - 5 miles/second horizontally for low Earth orbit. Shooting upward won't do it.

Answer 5

Well that is still in the works. Clearly liquid fuel is the most expensive and least efficient.

This link may interest you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacecraft_propulsion#Electromagnetic_acceleration_of_reaction_mass

Answer 6

Conventional delivery systems.

Answer 7

spit balls and straws