The Startram Project: Shoot a Train Into Space
For us to really have a chance at exploring space we need to be able to get enough materials up there to do all the things we dream about. Right now it costs around $4,500 per pound of cargo, 10x that to send passengers. One of the most talked about ways to do so is by building a space elevator, but the technology to manufacture cables with enough strength to withstand those forces are not invented yet. But there is one proposed solution that could get passengers and cargo to space for $45 per pound, 99% less than it currently costs.
I am talking about the Startram Project.
Using technology like the maglev train, just instead of travelling to another city you would travel into space. It is the brainchild of Dr. James Powell, co-inventor of superconducting maglev trains, and Dr. George Maise, an aerospace engineer. The best part? We could do it with existing technology!
Here's how it works.
A tube would be built and held in the air using magnetically suspended superconducting cables and high strength structural tethers. To achieve launch velocity the 1,000 mile long tube would be a vacuum and would launch the spacecraft out of the tube at an altitude of 12 miles, the speed it will be going at is 20,000mph - enough to carry it into a low orbit. To stop air from entering the vacuum tube magneto hydrodynamic pumps (MHD) would continuously expel gasses, maintaining a near-vacuum at all times. Basically a mass driver launch into space.
Sounds complicated right? Let me break it down a bit.
If you push enough electric current through two separate conductors they will push apart from each other. So the vacuum tube would be placed on top of another cable, and enough current ran through them to make them push each other apart, each meter of cable would suspend 4 tons of tube. High strength cables would hold the two in check, and the cables would be anchored to the ground.
So that is how the whole thing is held up, now to achieve launch speed the craft would have to be going 5.6 miles per second. Against the atmosphere at sea level the heat and friction generated while traveling at that speed would be too great, like hitting a concrete wall at 40mph in a car. But if it exited the tube at a height of 12 miles, then it could coast up to space with the built up momentum.
Now to stop air from entering the tube the Startram would use an ‘MHD Window’, a technology already in use, to expel the air. Think of this as a plasma shield to stops air from passing into it and keeps the tube at nearly 100% vacuum while it is operating.
Now just add in the same maglev technology used on the ground and you got yourself a space train!
Still sound too far-fetched? Independent Sandia National Laboratories was told to find any flaw in the plan so as to ‘murder it’. They went over every part of the proposal looking for any reason it would not work and ended up declaring it sound and achievable. It is estimated that a cargo only version could be built in 10 years at a cost of $20 billion. A version for passengers would take 20 years to build and cost $67 billion.
The Startram crafts would be reuseable and estimates of the cost of energy to send a kilogram to orbit run below $1. Another way to put it is that a kilogram of cargo could be brought into space at a cost of around 2 liters of fuel, the current rockets take at least 10x that much and are one time use (SpaceX is still working on it guys). Pollution would also be minimal compared to rockets.
Unfortunately this idea has not gained any traction since it was proposed in 2001.
I believe our current approach to spaceflight is like having cargo container ships unload far off shore while smaller craft carry the containers in one by one, it is easy and cheap for the short term. But it is much better to build a port so that the whole operation can be done more efficiently, but a port is an expensive project. No government wants to carry the cost of this.
Great article. I wonder if musk could use this to shoot supplies to Mars?
The supplies could be shot into orbit with this, but would need another push to get to Mars.
As a mother, that looks dangerous. :)
But fun!
(Congrats on 60 @geke!)
Thank you - it took forever! Once I hit 57, each whale upvote only gave me about .2 points... it was arduous. I envy your 61. Hope to join you there in a month or so.
DANGEROUS!!
OMG!
No. That's right out then. No one should be allowed to do anything dangerous. Someone might get hurt. Nope. Can't do it.
Be nice everitt, there is no need to be sarcstic at geke's comment. In fact, seems like you have a strong opinion of the matter and it might make a good post for you.
You're right. I apologize geke.
Snark is my default mode. Too much time of FaceBook.
Hmmm....good point 'getonthetrain'.
"The feminization of America, and why young men no longer go down to the sea on ships"
Ya think?
I like the first half, the second half is alright but could be better with a little brainstorming. :)
gotcha...I'll thimk on it...
hmm..."And the Spartan mother said . Come back carrying your shield or on it...or runaway if it get's too dangerous"
Naw...More brainstorming needed.
How about "The Wussification of Boys: How Society is Creating Wimps" ? Like that? You can also change boys to America, but the steemit community is international - so I think boys would get more clicks.
Or just say Kids instead of boys - depends how you want to write it.
No worries. And I wasn't feminizing, I was nagging. There's a difference. :)
More dangerous than sitting on top of a giant tank of exploding hydrogen?
Yeah, well, I was kind of kidding (thus the smiley face).
Sounds very cool to me.
I guess there must be some way to maintain the cables cold enough (so that the superconducting properties are there). Do you know how this would be implemented?
If you look at some of the pictures you will see a thick tube every section, that houses the refrigeration and cooling units.
Thanks for the precision. Ahaha here they are ;)
Now the next question that is puzzling me is on how much energy would it cost? Are the 45 dollars per pound including the electricity costs, the maintenance costs, construction costs, etc.?
In 2010 they stated that amortization, spacecraft, and O&M costs are included in that rate.
Excellent then! What are we waiting for? :)
Amazing. A slanted elevator :)
What about security? Did this auditor also consider if this setup is safe from somehow breaking it down violently. Unfortunately we are not living in a very peaceful world :(
The plans were only verified for the actual proposals, security is a whole 'nother ballgame.
Great post. I think we need visionaries to fund this sort of thing and sadly those kind of people tend not to be in government anymore. I think we will have to wait for someone like Elon Musk to give it visibility like the Hyperloop concept.
It's a huge project, and would require a strip of land in a straight line for 1,000 miles to secure the cables to. Taking that into consideration, I would think whoever does a project like this would either have to be a government, or someone with great connections within.
This is very interesting. ..
It would take a huge amount of effort to see it through, but people have done huge projects ever since the pyramids!
Included in Steemprentice Spotlight
And tweeted by SteemLand :)
Thank you @virtualgrowth!
Very interesting project.
Very ambitious! Have you read about the Stratolaunch aircraft? The guy that funded SpaceShipOne is building the world's largest aircraft to carry rockets into the upper atmosphere and launch them from there!
Mind blowing concept! If even half your space theories come true, your steemit blog will become a future encyclopedia of reference!
Amazing stuff, bud!
It is pretty cool to think about, but would require a huge amount of effort!
What kind of forces would be exerted on the "train" upon exiting the vacuum tube? I imagine it would be a pretty intense deceleration?
The tube ends at a height of 12 miles, that is so the atmospheric pressure is reduced enough to allow it to still reach space even though some deceleration would happen once it did leave the tube. By my calculations that altitude has only 6.8% of the pressure at sea level.
So leaving the tube would be like hitting a wall in a car that was traveling 2.7mph - not so bad.