BBC Focus Magazine

[M Paul Lloyd]

as I have a great deal of Dan Dare annuals to thumb through first.

Oh dear.....

[Shadowwolf]

You no robot Mr Wolf, you Shadowwolf.

Ahaha..., ahem.

You will have to give me awhile to answer that one as I have a great deal of Dan Dare annuals to thumb through first.

Well if you have it then you know it and Dan Dare doesn't enter into it.

All this hand waving, you don't have anything do you?

[Lateralman]

Err excuse me. I may not always be right but I never bluff.

The ‘Power Source’ is my rocket ride out of the ghetto, if I tell you that, everyone will want one.

[M Paul Lloyd]

Anastasia................. away!

[Shadowwolf]

Err excuse me. I may not always be right but I never bluff.

Well of course Mr Lateral, why if you were bluffing it would probably read like, "The ‘Power Source’ is my rocket ride out of the ghetto, if I tell you that, everyone will want one."

If we saw something like that then we'd likely conclude - in light of all the previous posts - that the individual was, making stuff up, and therefore be done with it.

Oh...

[...]

lateral man, stop winding them up,... naa keep it up, i love it
Shadders, MPL chill

[M Paul Lloyd]

MPL chill

If anyone is wondering 'Anastasia' is the name of Dan Dare's spaceship.

[Shadowwolf]

Must have been before the imaginatively named Z-100 which I believe he quickly lost to Dargath anyway.

[M Paul Lloyd]

He was rather in the habit of losing ships but 'Anastasia' remained, or at least as I recall it, his favourite.

[Lateralman]

Hey chaps, I am Lateralman. I 'm always on the level.

[Lateralman]

THE SPACE TUBE or SPACE ARTERY or SPACE TUNNEL or STAR TUNNEL or TERRA WORMHOLE

Here we go chaps. The simple way to get into space is to build a big wide flexible airtight collapsible tube (a little like the slinky toy, only without any gaps) that could be anchored to the ground and stretched far up out into space, (permanently or when needed.)

Bringing space and zero gravity down to the earth.

The tube could be raised and held in place two thirds of the way by a circular balloon system with the remaining third being retro rocketed into orbit.

All an astronaut has to do is to enter the erected tube via an air lock, which would be attached to it on the ground and then jump. Within an hour or so of freefalling upwards, he should have popped out of the tunnel at the other end located in space. Meet up with the ISS, and then climb on board for a cup of tea.

The tube might also be used for sending up large pieces of equipment.

In inclement weather or when not in use the tube can be concertinaed back to the ground.

It is a builder’s tall building rubbish chute in reverse.

This will end dodgy ground launches, see the beginning of a new era in space tourism, and in addition provide inexpensive reach for the stars funerals for everyone.

Up, up, and away!

[M Paul Lloyd]

Bringing space and zero gravity down to the earth.

You really don't have a clue how gravity works do you Lateralman?

It wouldn't work, ok?

[Shadowwolf]

The simple way to get into space is to build a big wide flexible airtight collapsible tube (a little like the slinky toy, [...] Bringing space and zero gravity down to the earth.

I am having a hard time accepting that anyone over the age of four could be so uninformed that they think the edge of the atmosphere is some membrane which, if punctured, would result in the vacuum spilling in and gravity vanishing.

Thus - and I really hope - you must be taking Mr ...'s suggestion of wind up to the max.

So, unless it has something to do with the latest Mars mission, I think we can be done with these pointless distractions of the imagination.

[Lateralman]

And some fell on stony ground.

Good job that that was not my favourite concept. The real one is yet to come and it has plenty to do with the mars mission for it refers to a cost effective way of getting a rocket into orbit without using fuel. It is an idea that I think will achieve all that I have stated.

Mr Wolf may I take the liberty of suggesting for you a change of avatar. One that would be in more keeping with the season. Perhaps an all red number surrounded with fluffy white trimmings?

[M Paul Lloyd]

Be careful what you wish for Lateral, Santa is an anagram of Satan after all.

[Lateralman]

A ROCKET WITHOUT ROCKET FUEL

Okay, Mr Lloyd what the heck. It is of no use to me. I figured secretly you wanted to know, so I will tell you.

When I was a small vertical lad, I had a little plastic winged rocket powered by water pressure. When it was half filled with water, attached to something that looked like a bicycle pump and then pumped with air. All you had to do to fire it, was to point it towards the sky, pull a little red toggle and it would whoosh upwards to quite a fair height, although to my dismay it never achieved escape velocity.

Many years later, I was reading about an early failed sectionalised rocket that utilised a series of atomic explosions to gain height. The idea was dropped, so I read, because it was obviously deemed too dangerous.

My idea is to combine the two thoughts, only instead of using atomic bombs or any rocket fuel, the rocket would achieve earth orbit through a series of highly pressurised water releases onto a number of push pads fitted in-between each booster section.

The rocket body would be launched from a very deep hole/silo and consist of gradually increasing in size, sequential, interconnecting finned cylinder booster stages, which would comprise of as many as needed in order to gain the required height, starting with the largest at the base and ending with the smallest near the top.

For extra stability, the whole booster string might be attached to a very long rod that would detach with the release of the final pressurised cylinder.

This series of interconnecting highly pressurised booster cylinders would carry a small swing winged space shuttle on top or in fact anything, you might want to launch into space. Once launched, the container nearest the base would detach and fall back to earth, and then the thrust of the next one would take over, expelling its water propellant through its own separate nozzle on to its push pad and so on and so forth until orbit is achieved.

The whole thing is recyclable with each detachable drop away container section having parachutes. Alternatively, if there was many sections, some of them could be utilised as extra add on cabins for the space station.

Problems would be the crushing G Forces to reach escape velocity, gyro control stabilisation for all of the many sections. Enough nozzle power to achieve lift because of its ultimate size and finally is the whole idea impossible or would it or any part of it work?

I call it the, ‘Water Rocket Train.’

There you have it, a recyclable environmentally friendly water propelled rocket, without rocket fuel.

[Lateralman]

I realise that water rockets do exist, as stated. The main question is has anything ever been attempted or envisioned on this scale as a viable eco-friendly cheap option for getting a rocket into space and how modern materials might be utilised for example.

[M Paul Lloyd]

Yes I have experimented with water rockets... the last one I tried actually exploded... and thereby hangs the problem, they require energy in the form of gaseous pressure to force out the liquid as a propellant and this gaseous pressure must be held within a vessel, the strength of which is proportional to it physical mass and for such a rocket to attain orbit would require a pressure containment vessel disproportionally massive for the given payload... in other words, yes it has been tried, no, it doesn't work. Sorry.

[Lateralman]

I will get back to you on the other two earlier suggestions as I have variants on them that I have not outlined.

In the mean time... How about fitting the ISS out with an ‘Air to Space’ recovery system.

Instead of a ‘Skyhook,’ a 'Spacehook,' so as it passes overhead it can hook, pickup, and winch aboard objects brought up from Earth into the stratosphere by planes or balloons.

I realise there would be a number of problems with this concept, velocity, accuracy, cable length, will the space tourists avoid being barbecued, will the Dark Knight be willing to give it ago.

However, if they can be overcome, it could be a neat inexpensive way, (no fuel needed if only balloons are used for the first stage of the lift,) of hauling up a lot of hardware.

A must for the extreme anglers of the universe!

[M Paul Lloyd]

Your space-hooks wouldn't work either, sorry.