[Spaceships] getting into orbit without superscience? - Page 8

fdsa1234567890 · 08-20-2021, 04:46 AM

The options don't seem great even at higher tech levels.

Chemical rockets obviously would still work, and with higher technology would at least be more affordable due to economic growth, but they would still be inefficient at best. While reusable designs would obviously help with costs, they are not really enough to really get truly serious numbers of people to into space in an economical fashion. Would these still have any real practical use at a higher TL?

HEDM would allow getting into orbit somewhat easily with an SSTO design, but they would also have a fairly high risk of explosion given the metastable nature of the fuel in use. I'm not sure how practical it would be for military applications considering this.

Orion drives would also work, but they also involve deliberately setting off nuclear weapons within the atmosphere, which make them extremely impractical as a common launch system. NTRs have a similar radiation flaw and are also no better than metallic hydrogen in terms of delta-v with even less thrust.

Are any of the higher tech fusion or antimatter designs even capable of getting to orbit in a practical design?

08-20-2021, 04:46 AM	#1
fdsa1234567890 Join Date: May 2011	[Spaceships] getting into orbit without superscience? The options don't seem great even at higher tech levels. Chemical rockets obviously would still work, and with higher technology would at least be more affordable due to economic growth, but they would still be inefficient at best. While reusable designs would obviously help with costs, they are not really enough to really get truly serious numbers of people to into space in an economical fashion. Would these still have any real practical use at a higher TL? HEDM would allow getting into orbit somewhat easily with an SSTO design, but they would also have a fairly high risk of explosion given the metastable nature of the fuel in use. I'm not sure how practical it would be for military applications considering this. Orion drives would also work, but they also involve deliberately setting off nuclear weapons within the atmosphere, which make them extremely impractical as a common launch system. NTRs have a similar radiation flaw and are also no better than metallic hydrogen in terms of delta-v with even less thrust. Are any of the higher tech fusion or antimatter designs even capable of getting to orbit in a practical design?