Browse all claims submitted to the Evidence Ledger. Each claim is evaluated by experts and linked to relevant concepts.
A sustained Moon-base or Mars-settlement program is plausibly a multi-decade to multi-generational endeavor: NASA’s Artemis planning explicitly frames the next decade as laying foundations for a “sust...
By land-use and externality costs, we mean the full set of economic and social costs associated with allocating land to a launch system and with the impacts that system imposes on surrounding areas. T...
The screws contain electric motors that are responsible for accelerating the screws and flywheels to operational speed. As the screws and flywheels are supported by magnetic bearings and as they spin...
The Variable Pitch Screw Launch system converts electricity into kinetic energy with electric motors before the spacecraft is launched. This kinetic energy is stored as rotational energy within the sp...
The VPSL system is composed of large, complex infrastructure elements that closely align with existing U.S. industrial capabilities, particularly in sectors that are currently underutilized or facing...
If we assume that the vacuum level inside the evacuated tube, P, is 5 Pa and the air temperature, T, is 20°C 293.15 K, the air density inside the tube can be estimated using the ideal gas law: $$ \rh...
If the launch system is used to launch spacecraft to Mars, then launches will occur for a couple of hours around sunset, for about 14 days in a row during each launch season. Launch seasons occur once...
Wear Rate of Rockets Rocket engines accumulate wear as they convert chemical energy into thrust, and the vehicle’s structure endures continuous stress from high loads, vibrations, and, for reusable s...
An Elevated Evacuated Tube EET is a lightweight, vacuum tube segment that extends the protected zero-drag flight corridor through the densest part of the atmosphere so the vehicle exits into the free...
The Launch Train consists of three components: the fueled and loaded spacecraft, the launch sled, and the adaptive nut. The spacecraft mass is addressed in the separate claim entitled "Spacecraft Mass...
The mass-to-orbit ratio is a useful metric for comparing and contrasting the fundamental performance of two different rocket technologies. For one system to have a better mass-to-orbit ratio than anot...
The intent of this claim is to argue that the launch system’s rotating, magnetically levitated screws can function as a grid-scale energy-storage asset when the system is idle, and that this dual use...
In most siting scenarios, it is reasonable to assume that the submerged horizontal acceleration section can be protected from external hazards simply by placing it deep enough underwater that ships ca...
The intent of this claim is to show that the geometric straightness required for the underground ramp section of the launcher is achievable using existing tunneling, surveying, and track-adjustment te...
The intent of this claim is to argue that human travel to Mars is feasible using smaller spacecraft. If validated, this implies that the supporting launch infrastructure can be scaled for smaller vehi...
This claim asserts that during a launch season, the size of the daily launch window, when combined with strategies for altering the flight trajectory of launched spacecraft and rapidly resetting the s...
According to Counting stars and costs: An empirical examination of space launch cost trend at NASAhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0094576525002115... - NASA's launch cost incre...
In the reference implementation of the VPSL system, the adaptive nut separates from the launch sled and spacecraft at the end of the forward acceleration section. While the sled and spacecraft continu...
The Elevated Evacuated Tube EET is a type of aircraft, and like any other aircraft, it can operate in a wide variety of weather conditions. The Elevated Evacuated Tube EET is designed to remain airwor...
The spacecraft coasts weightless inside the Elevated Evacuated Tube and exits through the airlock into rarefied atmosphere. On egress it encounters aerodynamic drag; a restartable rocket engine counte...
The upward-acceleration target applies to the ramp that redirects the vehicle skyward after horizontal acceleration. Allowing up to ~17 g normal to the trajectory over a short, controlled interval ≈6....
The forward-acceleration target applies to the horizontal acceleration section of the launch system. Allowing 80 m/s2 of forward acceleration in addition to the up to 9.8 m/s2 of normal downward accel...
Defense of Claim: Indefinitely Operable Propellant Depot in LEO A propellant depot deployed in low Earth orbit can be designed to operate indefinitely by integrating proven subsystems into a coherent...
Showing 51–89 of 89 claims