From the Earth to the Moon and Beyond

Once the last space shuttle mission is completed this summer (circa 2011), American's will be riding on Russian rockets to get to the International Space Station.

However expect America to return to space exploration as it is the high ground militarily. Americans may be willing to share the high ground but they will not cede it.

Using conventional technology, the costs involved in extending space exploration to the moon and Mars are prohibitive. Alternatives to conventional rocket launch must be found if costs are to be significantly reduced to allow real exploration and commercialization.

For this reason, the cancellation of the Constellation program may be a blessing in disguise. NASA developed technology hs not only served as a vehicle for getting astronauts into space but it has also been an excellent vehicle for delivering pork to congressional districts. Instead of rockets designed and built by bureaucratic committee, much of Constellation funding will go to commercial space companies that will serve up a "space taxi" role.

This is great news for commercial space enterprises and their investors. We have already seen the potential of space-based businesses as wealthy tourists buy multimillion-dollar tickets on Russian space ships. We have also seen the beginnings of private space access from Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites' collaboration with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group company called Virgin Galactic.

Rutan has indicated that he is more than able to put passengers safely into space and orbit around the earth. To make the space tourism viable, however, there has to be someplace nice to stay once you have achieved orbit. Conventional rocketry however is too expensive for any cargo other than human beings. Fortunately, there exists a vastly less-expensive alternative to delivery payloads to orbit ... welcome to the Gun Club!

Jules Verne once wrote anything a man can imagine, another can make real. In one of the earliest examples of the science fiction genre, Jules Verne wrote of a voyage to the moon enabled by a gigantic space gun. The fictional cannon, called Columbiad, fired a projectile holding three travelers to the moon. Verne was an extraordinary author and his fertile imagination has inspired generations of scientists and engineers. Even Verne however would be surprised, I think, to see how some of his more fantastic ideas are moving toward practical applications.

During the Space Race of the 1960s, the United States investigated every possible method to gain an advantage. One was a collaboration between the U.S. and Canadian defense departments. Unlike more conventional (and expensive) rocket-based technology that would become the standard method of access to orbit, this project was based on the use of large guns ... specially a recycled 16-inch naval gun. The final version of the projectile / vehicle blasted 180 kilogram payloads out of the barrel at speeds nearing 4 kilometers per second, reaching altitudes of 180 kilometers after being subjected to a brief and brutal acceleration exceeding 14,000 Gs.

However people cannot be accelerated at this rate. We black out at around 7-9 Gs; 5,000 Gs would quickly kill a human so it is clear that the payloads for The Gun Club will be non-human payloads. It will be cargo to resupply existing space stations in earth orbit like the International Space Station. It will be cargo to build new space stations in earth orbit like those envisioned as a destination for the space tourists of Rutan, Branson, and Virgin Galactic. It will be cargo like fuel placed in orbit for future missions.

Any future manned space missions will be propellant intensive. In conventional rockets, 95% of the weight at launch is propellant and used to get into orbit around the earth. If a space ship is to do much more than orbit the earth, or go back to the moon and beyond, it will need lots of fuel. For example, a fuel depot could be created, supplied with fuel launched by The Gun Club members, and used as a staging ground for missions to Mars. Current launch prices range from $5,000 - $10,000 per pound which is very expensive. It is estimated that members of The Gun Club will be able to put fuel in orbit for future missions at only 5% of the current cost or approximately $250 - $500 per pound.

From a military defense standpoint, another advantage of the space gun is responsive launch. If there is a critical need to observe some flash point on the globe from space, the space gun could put an observation platform in space on demand within minutes or a few hours.

It takes approximately 100,000 pounds of fuel in low Earth orbit for a moon mission. For a Mars mission, it comes out to a million pounds of fuel per person. The business case is very clear. At 1/20th of the current rates, cost savings of gun-launched fuel would become a huge enabler for space exploration and commercialization.

I trust this post has provided some background and evidence that powerful efforts are underway with breakthrough technology for the space gun technology boom. These activities will soon provide alternative wealth creating opportunities and our economy will become significantly stronger.

I favor a quote from Steve Forbes. Forbes says that pursuing additional financial education and the resulting increase in our financial literacy (including the investment potential of breakthrough technology) will open our eyes to alternative wealth creating strategies and this will be the key to resolving our global financial crisis.

To gain the necessary financial education, it is best to obtain association with, access to, and membership in a wealth creation community. As a result, you will learn and have the knowledge to use alternative wealth creating strategies such as Bank on Yourself, debt reduction, and asset protection. You will be exposed to wealth acceleration investments in areas (discussed in this and previous blog posts) such as the space gun technology boom, wireless data boom, smart power grid, nanotech being applied to biotech, biotech and nanotech converging with the semiconductor industry, electric cars, new access to space, 3D virtual technology, atomically precise manufacturing, nuclear power generation, commercial space ventures, Carrier Ethernet technologies, nanotech lithography, robotics, nano-based next-generation battery technology, precious metals, water rights, oil, natural gas, potash mines, food commodities, and gold mines. You will have the knowledge to consider investments in assets that are inherently useful like oil rigs, hydropower, or methanol plants; things that are hard to build, difficult to replace, and costly to substitute; definitely not financial stocks, definitely not retail stocks, definitely not commercial property.

Another benefit of membership in a wealth creation community is exposure to entrepreneurial leadership and business opportunities. Many of these leaders suggest that if you don't focus on being a digital entrepreneur, being self-employed, or being a small business owner, it will be a very tough road in the months and years ahead; actually it will be an uphill battle. As a result, the innovative wealth creation communities provide education and training on B2B, and B2C, eCommerce enabling a new breed of professionals that are creating six figure second incomes.

It is wise to monitor breakthrough technology as there are truly exciting developments underway with the wireless data boom and related business activities. I will continue to monitor developments and provide updates in future articles and at my blog.

Finally, I want to thank Ray Blanco and Patrick Cox of Agora Financial as they were the source of some of the materials about the technology advancements mentioned in this post.

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