Lets Get Into Space.

I have always thought that I would love to go into space. A low altitude orbit would be okay but there is no way to do it at the moment as it costs just that little bit too much. This means that I have watched Apollo 13 about 13 times and also watched films like Astronaut  Farmer which is a slightly different film but good nevertheless.

It truly amazes me that they managed to go to the moon 40 years ago and yet really we have gone backwards with progress in space. The rocket they went up in was really prehistoric technology and they were brave men to sit on top of an enormous amount of  fuel and let it take them up into space. There are a lot of conspiracy theories about whether they actually went to the moon or not as it was so long ago it is so unbelievable.

The first rocket was thought of about 100 BC when a Greek inventor known as Hero of Alexandria came up with a new invention that depended on the mechanical interaction of heat and water. He invented a rocket-like device called an aeolipile. It used steam for propulsion. Hero mounted a sphere on top of a water kettle. A fire below the kettle turned the water into steam, and the gas traveled through the pipes to the sphere. Two L-shaped tubes on opposite sides of the sphere allowed the gas to escape, and in doing so gave a thrust to the sphere that caused it to rotate. It would probably take scientists about 10 years to think of that nowadays.

space elevator to orbit

Rockets progressed from the aeolipile but World War II gave the rocket a massive boost with the V-2. This was built by the Germans and literally just fell onto towns in the UK.  Technology had a large boost in World War II. Isn’t it funny how wars are very good for technology but not very good if you have to go and get your head blown off? After World War II there was a Cold War and this was the time that man went to the moon. Then the shuttle came along and the International space Station shortly afterwards. I think that if we want the really best chance to get anywhere decent in the universe we are going to need another war to boost the technological side of things.  We certainly need some sort of stimulus to get us going as that is whereThe future lies (not the war, space, well…)

Nowadays people are going into space as space tourists but it is the extremely wealthy.  Why should they get all the fun?  Soon they may not be able to brag and Mrs Smith may be able to go for a day out into orbit. Virgin Galactic has been going for while and is nearly ready for passengers.  If you would like to advance book then book  here. Tickets aren’t that expensive really when you think about it, Virgin Galactic are asking for $200,000 for a brief, very brief time in a 50,000 foot low Earth sub-orbit, bargain.

I think the future looks bright but it doesn’t look orange it looks black! You may have heard of a space elevator.  Arthur C. Clark in his book the Fountains of Paradise does a good deal in getting the concept across and he wrote that book ages ago.  Liftport, is a group of companies that is dedicated to making the space elevator by 2031 and this seems a real possibility, getting people to stop laughing is the main problem. Imagine that you get bored with just looking at the general view you get out of your window and you fancy a bigger one. You could take a stroll or perhaps a flight to the space elevator station and up you go for a much wider view of things. The trouble with the the space elevator is that a disaster would wipe out the whole capability and there would be no shiny elevator to take you into space. This would obviously nowadays include terrorist attack.  Another alternative would be the space pier.  This would mean lots of supports supporting A pier into space.    Because there are lots of supports terrorism attack or any other disaster isn’t really a big issue. Objects would be accelerated horizontally and because they are travelling in a straight line and the earth is circular end up in space. I can’t explain it take a look at the picture. One other idea is an airship, where if  it is designed correctly you could float into orbit.

I’m not sure which one I would pick but as it impossible to get up there at the moment unless you’re one of those stinking rich boring people, any would do.

This is an extensive list of other ways to get into orbit and more.

Take a Trip With Virgin Galactic

Build Your Own Rocket

The Space Elevator