KESTS to GEO would become energy independent of ground energy supplies once it has been used to build solar satellite power stations which direct their energy to the ground terminal site acceleration armature segment electromagnetic drivers.

Is there another transportation system between ground and space that will supply its own energy? Conventional rockets don't, and are at high risk of being grounded permanently when oil resources become too scarce to the country. Possibly tether space elevators will be able to use power from solar power satellites they enable, yet has other kinds of problems. The existence of a very high capacity, efficient, electrically powered, continuously operating transportation system enabling continuous space access on into the future, supplying all the power to itself to move people and cargo, implies higher sustainability in the future where other energy resources such as fossil fuels may have severe fluctuations in their effective availability for space access purposes, as priorities change among countries. Building KESTS to GEO now, while fossil fuel energy is still relatively available and inexpensive, is a wise investment even if only to guarantee mankind has access to space resources, preventing civilization from being thereafter locked into a virtually closed ecosystem. Otherwise, when other economical fuels run dry here on the ground, missions of exploration such as to Mars in the 20 year time frame currently proposed elsewhere, are likely to be forgotten quickly.

When it becomes self powered by solar energy, KESTS to GEO provides guarantees that civilization has the option to continue to grow abundantly and wisely, and the option to restore the ecosystem responsibly, through enabling access to vast space resources while also being of little burden to the ground ecosystem.

Copyright © 2004 James E. D. Cline