Why We Need SSTO Instead of Sending Up More Space Tourist

Lately a lot of people has been going up into space. Rich people. People who has money to burn. Burning money to go into space. Now you ask yourselves, why did I say that?

Well, one of the main reason is we are still using multi stage Expendable Launch Vehicle (ELV) to reach orbit. The basic idea is that as the propellant are used up the container that holds the propellant are jettisoned because they are now considered as dead weight. Doing this allow the vehicle to travel long enough to reach escape velocity and hence into orbit.

Now what is wrong with this picture?

Okay, imagine this. You are driving a race car towards the finish line. 800 meters before the finish line you throw away your hood. 600 meters before the finish line you throw away your front passenger and back seat. 400 meters before the finish line you throw away your doors. 200 meters before the finish line you throw away your car body.

What's left at the finish line is just you, your car chassis along with your car engine.

For the next race you have to totally rebuild the car, all over again. Expensive? You betcha! Not to mention the difficulty and complexity of building a car that can jettison parts while travelling at high speed.

The best solution for this problem? Single Stage To Orbit (SSTO) vehicle.

Sure, they have proposed other solutions like space fountain's launch (Lofstrom) loop or orbital ring. Mother Nature has proposed the bird called Dodo as one possible solution in evolution. These solution will never work due to cost, impracticability, etc. A space vehicle will be as useless as the wingless Dodo when they are stuck on Mars due to the fact that there are no space fountain on that planet. Unless they can MacGyver a launch loop out of Martian rocks and sand, but the chances of that happening is nil.

What criteria do we need to build a SSTO vehicle? First it must not use propellant. The further we need to travel, the more propellant we need to carry, the bigger the container to hold all that propellant. Can you imagine the cost of building a SSTO vehicle the size of Himalaya to travel to the moon? Second, because we don't use propellant, we don't use rocket to provide thrust to push the vehicle forward. This means we need a new method of propulsion that works in the atmosphere, in low orbit, in space, and maybe underwater when we accidentally land in the Pacific during re-entry. Third, this new technology must use energy to power it and since normal propellant is out of the question, we need to use energy that is already available in abundance in space.

So how do we really build a SSTO vehicle? Gimme $10 million dollars; I'll build one for you. Either that or I run away to Bora-Bora with your money.