The essence of space development rests on our ability to transport material and people safely, reliably, and cost-effectively into low-Earth orbit (LEO). Although substantial growth may occur when extraterrestrial resources are utilized, the seeds for development will be Earth-based resources transported to LEO. Beyond spacecraft payloads, cargo items such as water, food, fuel, raw materials for on-orbit industrial processes, and structural elements should be transported as simply as is feasible and with a minimum of complex systems. This essay presents the concept and offers a first-order analysis of a magnetic levitation launch assist system - MagLifter - for the placement of spacecraft and cargo payloads into LEO. MagLifter offers a robust design for the deceptively simple and decidedly crucial logistics problem of materials placement in space.


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    Title :

    MagLifter for Cargo Transport to Low Earth Orbit


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    Seventh International Conference and Exposition on Engineering, Construction, Operations, and Business in Space ; 2000 ; Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States


    Published in:

    Space 2000 ; 556-566


    Publication date :

    2000-02-18




    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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