What future approach should NASA use to get into space?

I'm curious to what all of you think Nasa should build to get people and supplies to space.

Scramjet, Rocket, Space Plane, etc.

I know there are several space craft concepts out there, so I just wanted all of your 2 cents.

Well I've said this before and I'll say it again. Space Elevator! It can be built in a decade if the research moneys are available.
Long term...well after the space elevator becomes a reality we can really start to consentrate on other means of propulsion,
some of which will be usfull escaping gravity wells. Others will probably only be usfull in space(ie Solar Sails and Ion Propulsion).
Of course I could be completely wrong and Podkletnov was right and all we'd need to do is negate gravity, but I don't really
see that in the cards in the near future maybe in a hundred years or so but not soon IMO.

the big problem with your question is 'NASA should build'

when NASA builds something they destroy it. maybe someone else might have better luck.

Space planes and zero-point craft are working for certain organizations, and have for years.

space elevator and zero point and maglev launch

Originally posted by Asclepius
the big problem with your question is 'NASA should build'

when NASA builds something they destroy it. maybe someone else might have better luck.

Anything really big going into space would have to be done by either Nasa or USAF.

Railguns. We know it works with our current level of tech. I have many doubts about the space elevator. The shuttle needs replaced ASAP. The shuttle with aerospike engines was supposedly canceled, but I also heard that it was a military project and went "black." X-33? I vote for that as well.
More should be put into NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Program as well.

[edit on 10-9-2004 by Der Kapitan]

Nasa or someone needs to concentrate on faster than light speed. All the propulsion people are talking about is going to get us nowhere really slow. I mean just imagine the closest star to us is 4 light years away. Even with the fastest propulsion available it would still take us over half a century to get there, just a huge waste of time! When someone is able to propell a craft beyond the speed of light, i'm coming aboard!

Originally posted by bigshow
Nasa or someone needs to concentrate on faster than light speed. All the propulsion people are talking about is going to get us nowhere really slow. I mean just imagine the closest star to us is 4 light years away. Even with the fastest propulsion available it would still take us over half a century to get there, just a huge waste of time! When someone is able to propell a craft beyond the speed of light, i'm coming aboard!

Lightspeed! You better be joking.

You want nasa to dump money into something that is way beyond us. I dont.

Traveling to other starsytems is way to far off to be thinking about, Other people on this topic are refering to our own solar system, which is big.

If you want to get into space, take the elevator.

There really won't be a better way to get there until Zero point is developed for larger masses.

The space elevator is almost a feasible engineering project. That will the the next great development on earth. It will allow for the constuction of permanant space ships capable of REAL planetary exploration. And it will allow the construction of really large structures capable of supporting whole populations in space.

That's not science fiction anymore!

Imagine the coolness of seeing a 65,000 mile long cable hanging up into the sky! Whee!

Arkaleus

Well in order for a Space Elevator to work we're gonna have to invest significant amounts of time and money on SWNT(Single Walled Nanotube) development. With that said here is an article to digest.

www.eurekalert.org...

I Agree with ya on the space elevator, It should be built.

We could build such huge space ships, You can use the same manufacturing steps used here on earth, they build big buildings and big ships and big bridges, all done by everything (big) is pre-manufactured and then put into place, Kinda like State of the Art Legos.

We could build large complex sections here on earth and then have them raised to space for there final completeion (bolts and welds and so on).

Also, If the US was the only one with a space elevator we could build a fleet of spacecraft carriers. I know that last sentence is a bit far fetched, but i've always thought about it. It would be like having a Mothership of our own. It could carry smaller spaceships inside of it.

Heres a picture, its wallpaper size, so i put it in a link instead.
Spacecraft Carrier
(hint to other people: If its a big picture, LINK IT, dont just post a big picture, it anoying having to read people comments when your have to scroll side to side and up and down.)

I predict that mankind will have a space elevator in 30 years. It will be built by the USA, JAPAN, and EUROPE. China will have to pay to use it.

It will also be the launching pad for the first commercial space hotel. I will be one of the millions of visitors when I am 60 years old.

There will be unforseen electrical distubances constantly because of the length of the cable, which will end up being a huge power generator for the space based structures and the lift mechanism itself.

Arkaleus

Arkaleus
There will be unforseen electrical distubances constantly because of the length of the cable, which will end up being a huge power generator for the space based structures and the lift mechanism itself.

Is this supposed to be a prediction?

If so you should know that the cable will have nothing to do with the electrical spectrum. The power for this thing could be many sources and ways to do it, but the one that they are currently thinking of will be a laser beam will be transfering the power from the ground, pointing at the bottom of the "space Tram", providing its power all the way up (wirelessly). They could also putsolar panels in space that would help give it power near the top.

I really want the space elevator to be built, But, I dont waht it to be our only means of getting into space. We need to have more then one option, Like if it needs alot of maintianence or gets hit by something. We need to keep improving other things like rockets, scramjets, railgun, PDE, and othe Black tech stuff.

I herd that the government already has a Space plane that goes back and frorth from Earth to space. Auroa ?

Originally posted by SpockO_o
I herd that the government already has a Space plane that goes back and frorth from Earth to space. Auroa ?

If the Aurora exists, most doubt that its a space plane, its supposedly goes around mach 7-8 using a Pulse Detonation Engine (It wouldn't even make Sub-Orbit).

Originally posted by Murcielago

Arkaleus
There will be unforseen electrical distubances constantly because of the length of the cable, which will end up being a huge power generator for the space based structures and the lift mechanism itself.

Is this supposed to be a prediction?

If so you should know that the cable will have nothing to do with the electrical spectrum.

I think he was talking about the heat differance between the two point of the SE. Theoretically it should work since the heat differance would be well extreme to say the least. I have no idea how you would get it to work though We could double it as a heat pump which would in turn be converted to electricity somhow that way no external power would be needed...would that work??

EDIT: We could also use a SE as a means to transmit Solar Electricity from orbital Solar Plants w/o the need to beam the power down via Microwaves.

[edit on 11-9-2004 by sardion2000]

There was an experiment once where the space shuttle sent a 1 Km cable out for a test to see if they could generate power. Not only did the tether generate power, but it generated so much power that the current melted the tether and it snapped, spirling away into space.

There are very powerful electical potentials surrounding the globe, a 65,000 km cable would need to be engineered to handle these huge power surges that would come from solar activity, and the magnetic fields of the earth.

If just a short tether from the STS can generate huge amounts of power, then a super long tether needs to be analysed for its electrical interations with the environment. Storms passing by would find it a wonderful conductor to discharge thunderbolts on, and the little understood relationships between the upper atmosphere and electrical phenomenon needs to be well understood before we make a permanant ground wire into the heavens.

Imagine building a 65,000 km tether into space, and having a huge electrical discharge from some previously unknown powerbuild-up blast it to smithereens, or damage its cargo, or degrade it's structure. It's a really novel idea to do this, and we know very little about the upper atmosphere. We need to get satellites up there and more tests before we can safely build this superproject.

I really want to see this become a reality, as it will open up space for all of us, and I will finally be able to get up there as a tourist, maybe even as a technician.

Supercool!

Arkaleus.

[Edited on 11-9-2004 by Arkaleus]

Arkaleus - Read my signature.

Just because its called a cable, you instantly assume its going to be made out of metal. Its not. It will not conduct electricity, nor will it have and magnetic effects. It will be made out of carbon nanotubes. A steel cable would be impracticable, it wouldn't even be able to hold its own weight.

NASA needs to be dissolved or completly re-structured, they are making little progress in getting the shuttles ready for flight again. I think they should use the delta style rockets and strap a small vehicle on. Not too much different then how they did it in the 60s and the Russians still do it that way.