1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a centrifugal gravity habitation torus constructed of salvaged orbital debris, which is a reusable aerospace structure adapted to be placed in an orbit, and is an improvement in aeronautical hardware.
2. Background of the Related Art
Space is an emerging economic frontier for mankind, but the cost of transportation into orbit and the hardware required for habitation once in orbit have been a barrier to commercial exploitation. The present cost of cargo transportation into orbit is in the range of $16,000 per pound using fully expendable and partly reusable space launch vehicles such as the space shuttle. A reduction in the cost of space transportation into orbit using fully reusable vehicles is on the threshold of development, and could shortly reduce the transportation costs to one-tenth their present levels.
The result of this type of cost reduction will be similar to the effect a similar cost reduction had on the aircraft industry in its developmental stages. That effect can be summarized as follows: first, the aircraft single trip high revenue cargo market increased; second, the medium revenue special cargo market flourished; and third, human passengers became commonplace.
Analogous progress in the space transportation field to date is as follows: first, the expendable rocket market is continuing to place high revenue communications satellites into geosyncronous orbit; and second, research payloads such as the SPACEHAB Module (Spacehab, Inc.) are transporting medium revenue cargo to space stations like the Russian MIR and the emerging international space station. So far, however, passenger traffic has eluded the space launch industry.
The emergence of reusable space launch vehicles will accelerate the cost reduction required for passenger traffic into orbit. Tourism is currently the largest industry on the planet. Space tourism, requiring a trip of just 200 miles overhead into Earth orbit, would put tourists into a different environment with a different gravity and spectacular views of the Earth and outer orbit.
However, space tourism will require tourism destination facilities in orbit. The existing destinations in orbit were designed for a few astronauts, and cost billions of dollars to construct and operate. Space tourism facilities will have to be much cheaper to construct and operate, and reducing costs to one-hundredth the level of existing destinations will be required in order to bring the cost of those space tourism destinations into line with the projected costs of the emerging reusable space passenger vehicles, which should be operational within a number of years. Such lower cost destinations will have to be austere facilities.
The first of such facilities in orbit will appeal mainly to the adventure traveler. The design of these facilities must address the full effect of microgravity on the human body, or risk Space Adaption Syndrome sickness for approximately half of the travelers. The space tourist industry must bridge the gap between the extremely expensive orbital research stations of today and future tourist comforts with destination facilities inexpensive enough to be privately funded under present financial constraints.
The first generations of destination facilities will likely be pre-assembled on the grounds, as construction in microgravity continues to evolve. Methods for construction of these first generation destination facilities as described below are with the frame of reference of conventional construction techniques. These techniques may or may not have to be optimized to accommodate the microgravity environment. A large continuous-walled structure such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,730,797 made from lightweight inflatable flexible walls may work someday in orbit, but the vacuum environment of space requires a rigid structure for safety, and strength, and to achieve the public acceptance required for development.
For example, studies have explored salvaging the external tank of the space shuttle in low Earth orbit for use in providing habitual structures in space. The existing external tank is now being replaced with a new lighter weight external tank performing the same function in the ascent, and which will also be salvageable using the same proposed salvage techniques.
The present invention relates to a torus design using the salvaged external tanks. The external tank derived torus design is cost effective, and provides a partial gravity space tourism facility in orbit requiring little new technology. Use of such a torus as a space tourism destination facility will require an economical form of public transportation to take tourists into orbit.
The external tank derived torus design of this invention may use the external tank or other orbital debris as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,139, issued to the present inventor on Mar. 17, 1987, or U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,499, also issued to the present inventor on Dec. 13, 1988. In addition, the present invention may use the salvaged external tank of the space shuttle or other space hardware as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,632, issued to the present inventor on Sep. 29, 1998, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference.