MMM Classics Year 10: MMM #s 91-100 - Moon Society

y Peter Kokh
When the idea of using an Earth-captive virtual first
stage e.g. a spaceship-carrying rocket-powered dolly accelerating
along a track up the western slope of some convenient
mountain, first was published, I’m not sure. I first saw the idea
dramatically illustrated in the early 50s film “When Worlds
Collide”. The sight of that large streamlined spaceship rocketing
up that long slide and then out into space, bound for a
planet around a star that would shortly swallow a vaporized
Earth whole, is hard to forget. Men have dreamed of reaching
space in this fashion for a long time. The ideal mountain, of
course, is not on Earth at all, but on Mars, Pavonis Mons. But
let’s take a look at what we have here on Earth.
We are all familiar with the advantages of launching
Eastward from low latitudes, as close to the equator as possible,
to get a piggyback boost from the Earth’s own angular
momentum as it rotates on its axis. The maximum boost, at the
equator, is 1,037.9 mph (1670.25 kph) = circumference of the
Earth divided by 24 hours in the day. This boost diminishes as
you move away from the equator to the north or south. The
percentage of available boost at any latitude is given by the
cosine of the latitude degree. For example, Cape Canaveral,
Florida lies at at 28° N. The cosine of 28° is 0.88295 which
gives the percentage [88.29%] of the boost available at the
equator, or 916 mph.
We are also, most of us, aware of the penalty, in the
form of drag, incurred by launching through a thick atmosphere.
If we could launch not only from on or near the equator,
but from high altitude as well, launch efficiency would be
maximized (translatable into higher altitude, larger payload, or
both).
Early ‘50s science fiction writers almost universally
imagined that White Sands, New Mexico would be the major
gateway to space. Eventually NASA decided for political,
military, and, Oh Yes, range safety reasons that this country’s
major spaceport would be along Florida’s Atlantic coast. But
Wernher Von Braun, the make-it-happen guru of modern
spaceflight, actually had had a better idea when he proposed
that the World spaceport be located on a high mountain plateau
in central New Guinea, 5° N. Von Braun, of course, was a
multistage rocket man, and the idea of using an Earth-captive
virtual first stage in the form of a mountain-slope climbing
rocket sled dolly would have meant turning over an important
part of launch operations to a separate team of scientists and
contractors.
While the rocket sled idea remains “a path not
chosen”, prime fodder for the writer of “what if” alternate
histories, the idea is essentially sound. Without discussing the
technical and engineering features and merits of such a spaceship
launch track, let’s take a look at just what actual terrestrial
mountains might make the final cut. Here is our short list of the
top four, with some comments. We have them listed in order of
their summit heights, even though a launch track might not
reach it.
Mt. Cayambe, Ecuador
19,160 ft., 0° 40 miles NE of Quito, and 200 miles
NE of the major Pacific coast seaport metropolis of Guayaquil.
In the Andes, Cayambe is the only mountain on our list with
neighboring peaks that might do just as well. The other three
(Cameroon, Kenya, and Kinabalu) are stand-alone massifs.
Range Safety and clearance: best clearance is to the
north for polar launches, for which Cayambe offers no
advantage. 2,000 miles East to the Atlantic over the sparsely
populated north Amazon basin.
Mt. Kenya, Kenya
17,040 ft., 0°. An extinct volcano with a beautiful
and classic graduated slope. 300 some miles NW of the Indian
Ocean port of Mombassa with a railroad connection. 100 mi.
NNE of Nairobi and its major airport. The summit is sacred to
some Kenyan tribes.
Range Safety and clearance: 300 miles west of the
Indian Ocean coast (in southern Somalia) over sparsely populated
terrain.
Mt. Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
13,455 ft., 6+°N. Near the north east tip of the
great island of Borneo. About 40 miles ENE of the South
China Sea port of Kota Kinabalu, and 80 miles WNW of the
Sulu Sea port of Sandakan. About 100 miles S of the southern
tip of the Philippine island of Palawan.
Range Safety and clearance: 70 miles to open water to
the East for eastward launches.
Mt. Cameroon, Cameroon 4.2°N
13,353 ft., 4+°N. 60 miles from the border with
Nigeria, 10 mi N of the port of Buea (former capital of the
former British Cameroons), and 50 miles WNW of the major
port city of Douala. The western slope is subject to torrential
rains.
Range Safety and clearance: Open water 25 miles to
the south for southward launches only, a major drawback.
Some 2,000 miles from the East African coast (in Somalia).
Mountains without the Right Stuff
Excluded from this list are active volcanoes, and
mountains that lack good seaport access. Arthur C. Clarke
fictionalized (“Fountains of Paradise”) a space elevator from a
mountain in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) at 6°N. In truth, Mt. Pidurutalagala,
the highest peak, is only 8,281 ft. and nearby Adam’s
Peak a thousand feet less. Both, however, have good eastward
clearance over the southern Bay of Bengal.
Any effort to pick a site and build a mountainslope
launch track would also have to factor in local political stability
or the lack of it. If we were to pick just one such facility,
serving all the world, my vote would have to be for Mount
Kenya. It is tall, smack on the equator, central to the world’s
population, has fair weather, good access to a major port, and
arguably acceptable range clearance.
Moon Miners’ Manifesto Classics - Year 10 - Republished January 2006 - Page 82