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Impedance Matching Between LEO And BEO

Rand Simberg Wyoming Aerospace Space Access Conference April 9, 2010 Phoenix, AZ. Impedance Matching Between LEO And BEO. LEO As A Harbor. Recent Quote From Pete Worden: “ You can look at low Earth orbit as Earth's harbor, and you don't need a government tug boat company anymore. “

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Impedance Matching Between LEO And BEO

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  1. Rand Simberg Wyoming Aerospace Space Access Conference April 9, 2010 Phoenix, AZ Impedance Matching Between LEO And BEO

  2. LEO As A Harbor • Recent Quote From Pete Worden: “You can look at low Earth orbit as Earth's harbor, and you don't need a government tug boat company anymore.“ • Is This A Good Analogy?

  3. Harbor Tug Analogy Has Problems • Commercial Companies Aren't Going To Guide Or Tow Space-Faring Vessels To/From Earth Surface (Tug Analogy) • Anchoring In Deep Harbor With Shallow-Draft Boats For Access Better Analogy • Harbor Is Atmosphere, Earth Is Dock • BEO Is Ocean

  4. Vehicle Requirements Conflict • Earth-LEO-Return Has Dramatically Different Requirements Than In-Space Transportation • Earth/LEO – High T/W, Atmospheric Operations, Extreme Aerothermodynamics, High Structural Stress (Small Speedboat) • In-Space – Varying T/W, Vacuum, Little/No Atmospheric Interaction, Orbital Mechanics, Low Structural Stress (Ocean Liner) • Aeronautics Versus Astronautics • Having To Do Both With Single Vehicle Gets Very Expensive (e.g., Apollo, Shuttle) • Have To Interface Them In LEO (Part of “Impedance Matching”)

  5. The Ideal Scenario • The Clarke Vision • Pan Am Shuttle For ETO And Back • LEO Space Facility For Transit • Lunar (And Beyond) Excursion Vehicles • (At Least) Two Problems • Fitting Through The LEO Portal • Getting To The LEO Portal

  6. Fitting Through The Portal • ISS Was Extruded Through A Five-Meter Hole • Lots Of Programmatic Stiction/Friction • Probably Cost $20M Per Foot (~1500 feet) • We Should Be Able To Do Better • What Is The Minimum Maximum Diameter? • What drives it? Optics? Tankage? • Do We Need Not “Heavy Lift,” But Really-Wide Fairing? • How To Deliver Items To Ocean Liner With Speedboat?

  7. Getting To The Portal • How Accessible Is LEO From BEO? • Orbital Mechanics Constraints • Delta Vee Issues • Do All Paths To LEO Go Through Earth Surface? • Can We Innovate Architecture To Allow LEO Return Via Aerobraking? • Can We Make In-Space Propellant Cheap Enough For Propulsive Circularization?

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