We need Mike Heney to tell us about a better site in South America.
TBH I find the idea of desecrating Kilimanjaro like this quite offensive. You end up with an obscene amount of irreversible environmental damage for very little gain.
If we use a mountain anyway, why not build an electromagnetic mass driver into the slope? The volcano will provide geothermal power. :-)
Quote from: fast on 12/19/2014 05:07 pmMust be the best place on earth for SSTO launch The NE/E/SE neighboring countries might not like the risk from those launches at all. Plus all the prementioned reasons.
Must be the best place on earth for SSTO launch
SSTO rockets arent any riskier than any other space LV. But must require less infrastructure, something similar to small airport - few hangars, fuel deport, etc.
Quote from: fast on 12/20/2014 03:11 pmSSTO rockets arent any riskier than any other space LV. But must require less infrastructure, something similar to small airport - few hangars, fuel deport, etc.They aren't much less riskier either.You've been watching too much Skylon videos.
I was actually about VTOL SSTO. Kind of F9R first stage. All you need is small takeoff-landing concrete field (about the size of floating spaceport-drone:) ). PS I suppose there will be no benefit for Skylon. If it will be able to takeoff from such altitude at all.
Quote from: fast on 12/20/2014 03:11 pmSSTO rockets arent any riskier than any other space LV. But must require less infrastructure, something similar to small airport - few hangars, fuel deport, etc.
They aren't much less riskier either.You've been watching too much Skylon videos.
Quote from: Eerie on 12/20/2014 09:47 amIf we use a mountain anyway, why not build an electromagnetic mass driver into the slope? The volcano will provide geothermal power. :-)*stabs EM mass driver on mountain slope in the heart**checks for movement**stabs it once more just to be sure*Now stay dead!
Quote from: R7 on 12/20/2014 02:38 pmQuote from: Eerie on 12/20/2014 09:47 amIf we use a mountain anyway, why not build an electromagnetic mass driver into the slope? The volcano will provide geothermal power. :-)*stabs EM mass driver on mountain slope in the heart**checks for movement**stabs it once more just to be sure*Now stay dead! At 10Kft in altitude, everyone is dying from lack of oxygen.. just give it a chance it will die
Individuals have lived at 5950m (19500ft) for 2 years continuous http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12631426, and there is a Peruvian town of 7000 people at 5100m (16500ft), same as Everest base camp where normal westerners hang out for months at a time. You can be active at such altitudes without too many problems, though acclimatising takes 1-2 weeks. Having a bit more oxygen pumped into your buildings makes it a lot more comfortable.