Figure 8.23 Research and Development Tasks for Space Transportation Technologies Figure 8.24 Advanced Space Transportation Development Tasks 8.9 Conclusions Only by reducing the costs of space transportation can solar power from space become feasible. With many past studies of solar power satellites, the transportation system cost has been 25 to 40 percent of the total program cost. Even with current space projects, the cost of space launch services is terribly high. Without active measures to bring down the costs of space access, the viability of any large space program is questionable. It should also be clear that these “costs” include not only dollar value of the booster, but also the transportation system reliability, accessibility, launch environment and the vehicle resiliency. All of these factors can increase cost and defeat our purposes in space. Only through the application of innovative technologies and streamlined space launch operations will humankind attain the height of perfection and low “cost” in space flight. There are many options for launching payload for a space power system. In the near term, there are numerous capabilities to deliver large and small payloads to LEO and beyond. Over the next ten years, there will be little change in the capacity to move satellites there are few developments in the planning stages other than incremental vehicle payload improvements. Beyond the ten year horizon, new launch vehicle designs, propulsion and materials technologies have the potential to make exciting leaps in payload delivery efficiency. Vehicles using Two Stage to Orbit and Single Stage to Orbit have the ability to reduce operational costs of payload launches. Simplifying these operations is a major stumbling block to making our access to orbit affordable. Many technologies are available for space transportation systems of the future. The final selection of which technologies are used is very dependent on the time frame of the solar power system
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