Overviews: Textual, or graphical

• Purposes
  • General:
    • Purpose of this website is to provide information that has the potential for greatly improving the quality (and maybe the survivability) of civilization in the near and distant future, and the related quality of the earth's biosystem, by utilizing unconventional configurations of existing technologies for large scale access to space resources, and the new kinds of applications which thereby become enabled.
  • Specific Enabled Potentials for Civilization
    • Abundant clean electrical power to civilization, starting in the near future
      • Enable construction and operation of adequate Satellite Solar Powerplants in GEO
        • Enable reduction in CO2/Greenhouse effect for ecosystem survivability
    • Recycling: closing the materials entropy loop through solar powered total recycling of toxic waste materials
      • Mass/charge ratio total recycling principles for total recycling of much of civilization's toxic wastes
      • Solar powered in GEO environment
      • Low cost transportation of waste material and recycled materials between ground and GEO
    • Very high efficiency access to GEO and thereby to vast solar system resources
      • Enable spacecraft launch facilities to be moved up to high earth orbit, GEO for greater resource access
      • Spaceport facilities in GEO, 91% up out of earth's gravitational well, very economical head start for launch vehicles to the Moon, asteroids, Mars, moons of the gas giants.
    • A "new" kind of real estate, of potentially vast proportions and implications
      • Enable construction of prototype large scale space habitats in GEO
      • Tourism and real estate built in space of earth, lunar and asteroid materials
      • Potential temporary mass population exodus site in case of total environmental collapse, and enabling restoration of biological ecosystem
• Utilized Technology Configuration Descriptions
  • Energy added to payload mass by moving it from ground up into GEO is only 15.7 KWh per kilogram
    • Several ways to calculate this
    • Comparison with energy required to lift using conventional reaction engine launch vehicles
  • Mechanisms for lifting payload between ground and high earth orbit in GEO
    • Lift by electrodynamic braking against high velocity upward-bound armature mass streams
    • Magnetic levitation tracks for spacecraft extending from ground to high earth orbit
    • Reclaiming energy from spacecraft returning to earth surface
  • Mechanisms for supporting the structure that provides the lift and controlled descent of spacecraft
    • Dual armature electric motor
    • Orbital Transfer Trajectory shaped constrained path for armature segment mass streams
    • Centrifugal force from velocity above orbital transfer velocity opposite direction to force of earth's gravity
      • Double the velocity from orbital transfer trajectory velocity would support electric motor's stator mass equal to aggregate mass of armature streams
    • Structure anchored on earth surface, such as motor stator accelerator in a East-West tunnel in Ecuadorean Andes mountains on the equator
    • Armature mass stream track lateral distribution around circumference of stator track structure for servopositioning utilizing electrodynamic braking, to compensate for wind and live load variations
    • Hard vacuum path for the armature segments ijncluding within the atmospheric portions of the structure
    • Developing a Sliding Armature Energy-Momentum Transfer Technology
    • Maintaining structure's rotation with the Earth's rotation
      • Unequal velocity of contrarotating armature mass streams
      • Solar power downward mass thrusters on the structure but below GEO, vector thrust
  • Stages of implementation and scaling size, capacity
  • Lateral application areas of the technologies: megabridges, energy transmission, raw materials movement
• Related technologies
  • Large scale simulatied gravity space habitats
    • Designs for use in L-5 made in mid-1970's
    • Wet launch of prefab habitat modules, toroid's segments designed for dual purpose as their own fuel tanks during launch by flyback engine tug and airbreathing booster
  • Anchored tether space elevators
    • Anchored earth tethers
      • Pull-up construction technique for anchored tether space elevators
    • Anchored lunar tether space elevator, constant stress crossection made of fiberglass
• Interaction with alternate transportation systems, present and future
  • Business competition, especially launch vehicle
    • Competition for use of space in equatorial plane between ground and GEO altitude
  • Governments and regulations
• Milestones
• Conceptual history, memeology, and formally published technical papers
• Tasks & Urgencies
  • Measurements of greenhouse effects from CO₂ emissions by burning fossil fuels, and projected consequences
    • Atmospheric CO₂ has risen from 280 parts per million to 379 ppm, http://www.noaa.gov/
    • An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security
  • Impending worldwide oil crisis in energy availability coming up too soon, as other nations reach for American standards of high energy living
    • http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/
• Expected payoffs, vs. expected consequences of continued failure to explore & utilize these concepts
• Coping with change

Heads up! the job is much bigger than you probably think, and it needs getting done starting yesterday, no time to waste in business games

To adequately link civilization with space resources, quickly enough before mankind runs out of economical energy and irrecoverably ruins the ecosystem, the primary focus center here is to quickly expand civilization into nearby space resources, through the creation of unique transportation structures which would lift payload between ground and high earth orbit, that utilize internally stored electrically coupled kinetic energy to both lift spacecraft and to support the transportation structure, all long term sustainable by the satellite solar electric power it enables, ultimately free of petrochemical energy sources.

Expected payoff is also much bigger than you might think

Solar-originated fully adequate worldwide-supplied clean electrical energy, total recycling of much of civilization's toxic materials, moving primary spaceport launch facilities up to high earth orbit; and when infrastructure reaches the Moon and asteroids to bring materials back to GEO, enables possibility of hugely expanded room for people to live and work in high quality ways if people have become much more harmonious and cooperative enough to do this thing, in case of ongoing collapse of ecosystem by then, would thereby be enabled. And it is hoped that thereby taking the pressure off the earth biosystem, it can be restored back to long term balance for long term high quality survivability as mankind takes on more awaredness of, and responsibility, for its actions.

Here also is related information on anchored tether space elevator technology, and high efficiency ways to construct free space self contained simulated gravity space habitats.

Select your current way of interest:

Making the world a better place, relationships, developing people's potential,the future: forming the ideals
Ideas, theories, strategies, possibilities and potentials, technologies and how things work, principles: rationales
Duties, obligations, concerns, how it is done, traditions and customs, the past: guardianship
Actions, activities, what can be done, how to get things done, courage, excitement, fun, what's happening now or next: artisanship
• The merging of all of the above, combined:
  • As based on my technical presentation given at ASCE’s "Earth & Space 2004" conference, March 10, 2004; Houston, Texas area
  • - PowerPoint presentation -- For beginners -- Functional principles -- Theory of operation -- Calculating energy added to payload to GEO -- Construction sequence --- Contact the author: jedcline@kestsgeo.com--- Humanitarian purposes -- As written in 1989 -- What it is now -- Electromechanical action -- Graphics -- Q&A -- Development of the concept -- Students' research topics -- If as science fiction -- Author's efforts -- About the author -- References -- Exploring the "FOR and AGAINST" issues regarding a KESTS to GEO project in the very near future.

Why do it?

It is said that one never steps into the same stream twice; the world around us is ever changing. One can influence those changes to flow in better ways, or one can keep on doing the same old thing, disdaining the path changes ahead; or even prepare to do battle over resources remaining. Our high quality lifestyle, based on plentiful inexpensive petrochemicals for energy and material uses, is not sustainable for much longer, as the fossil petrochemical resources are used up about exponentially increasing as the rest of the world of people reach for our American high energy standard of living, concurrently producing vastly excessive CO₂ into our environment. A couple of online references are An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security and http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/ as examples in case of your doubt about severe crisis soon ahead on our current path.

A brighter path, by far

On this www.kestsgeo.com website can be found potential paths which can provide a much brighter path ahead. I invite you to explore with me an alternate range of pathways to the near future, different from the paths that the powers-that-be are committed to follow, unwilling to change, fearing some loss of their powers, human nature. Yet there are more sides to human nature than that, else we would still be living in caves. You can influence the path to future, so come along with me to explore another option to our path, which needs to be started as soon as possible to enable the better possibilities. As the task is huge, this proposed approach to solution matches, seems at first too huge, yet one is encouraged to examine the principles before deciding. The crazy part is probably the belief that humanity can unite harmoniously to create this thing for the betterment of all of them, and of their world.

Why not just keep on with proven ways?

This approach is to expand the range of resources, while managing existing resources with greater wisdom. Transportation capability is key to expanding the range of resources, as usual. Space resources have capacities almost beyond our wildest dreams, potentially. We have run our course with existing launch vehicle transportation technologies "bigger, better, faster, cheaper" ways, yet no way near adequate for the huge task ahead, so let us use our existing technolgies and scientific knowledge and put together a different kind of transportation system, designed to fully adequately match the task.

Don't put all the eggs into one basket, it is said

This is not to say to abandon other efforts to maintain access to space, such as efforts by commercial business to design and build their own launch vehicles; or anchored superstrength tether space elevator technology development, or nuclear powered orbital transfer interplanetary spacecraft concepts. The wider the range of possibilities, the more likely we will be able to retain access to space adequately in the future. An advantage of solar-derived electric power access between ground and GEO is that it is likely to maintain high level of access to space despite severe fluctuations in availability of petrochemical derived energy in the not-so-distant future.

Looking beyond what is happening right now, toward possibly actually adequate solutions

Beginnings of ideas for space access vastly greater than that possible on the present transportation pathways, were made in the 1980's; so, let us start with the workable parts of the concepts of Keith Loftstrom's Launch Loop, Rod Hyde's Starbridge and Earl Smith's Texas and Universe Railroad. Then fill in the missing pieces for an integrated transportation conceptual design targeted to be potentially adequate for the task of providing the massive and inexpensive electrically powered transportation system to expand civilization solidly into space in high earth orbit within a couple of decades.

Putting together a map of something that just might do it

This result is formation of a concept where payload-carrying rail spacecraft are lifted between the earth surface (such as at equator) by their electrodynamically braking against very fast upward-moving mass streams of an advanced form of electric motor armature segments, pulling the spacecraft up without the vehicle carrying propellants or being receptor of a high powered tracking laser beam. The armature mass stream slides along a kind of magnetic levitation track built into the electric motor's stator, which is anchored at the earth surface mass stream accelerator terminal area. The perimeter of the motor stator is shaped approximately that of a filled-in Orbital Transfer Trajectory extending between earth surface radius and GEO radius at the opposite side of the planet. The stator provides the hard vacuum environment for the high velocity armature mass stream where the structure is within the earth's atmosphere. The electric motor's stator provides a constrained path for the armature mass stream's flow, so when the armature mass stream velocity is, say, twice that of orbital transfer velocity, the surplus centrifugal force pushes outward, upward relative to the planet, against the mass of the stator and its live loads, in this case with a force equal to that necessary to balance the weight of stator equal to the mass of the aggregate armature mass stream. This provides the mechanism for supporting the structure, instead of being limited by strength of materials for its primary support mechanism.

The low cost of huge space access in the near future, and what could be done with it, if we go along this unconventional pathway

Since the actual energy given to mass by virtue of it being lifted from the equator and placed into GEO is only 15.7 KWh per kilogram, depending on the efficiencies of this transportation lifting bridge structure, the cost of lifting construction materials from the ground to GEO has potential to approach the $2.00 per Kg level, enabling immense access to GEO and its environment for constructing satellite solar power plants, mass/charge ratio solar powered total recycling plants, and moving primary spaceports for launch vehicles up to GEO, 91% energy boost for them as they head to and from the Moon, Mars, asteroids, and beyond. Building 1976-design Stanford Torus passively shielded simulated gravity space settlements in GEO, home for 10,000 people each, have easier commute to earth than from L-5. There is room for 1.5 million of them in GEO. Thus a whole new expanding abundant future for civilization becomes within the reach of humanity in the near future, even taking some population load off the earth surface, potentially, enabling some restoration of the earthsurface biosystem balance if genomes of currently vanishing species is preserved. So the technology for this is within reach of a humanity that is willing to put aside its differences and do this thing for the betterment of everybody, not just the "winners" of conflicts.

And here are some other generalized resources:

http://www.kestsgeo.com/index20040310.html

http://home.earthlink.net/~jedcline/