A rocket-powered space launch system comprises both a vehicle segment with an integrally designed propulsion subsystem and a supporting ground facility segment. Elements of a propulsion unit as easily accessed for removal and replacement of individual components. Said launch system is highly reusable, operable, and facilitates governmental agency regulatory compliant safety of occupants and public without passenger escape function and/or commanded vehicle destruction.

An apparatus, system and method are provided for launching, deploying and moving mobility platforms used to produce a three-dimensional product using additive printing. The product, or object, is made by collecting materials in-situ at an off-Earth celestial body. A sintering apparatus, such as a laser, is used to consolidate the planetary regrowth into a solid object. The apparatus can receive power, and can apply heat to assist in the consolidation process. The apparatus is moveable to the build site, and includes a print head having a collector for receiving collected materials, a conditioner for sintering and heating the collected materials, and an extruder, specifically a slip form opening in which the materials can be dispersed over the surface of the extraterrestrial body where the powder form of the conditioned materials are sintered, fused, or consolidated into a hard solid bead of material.

In a method of hybrid power generation in an environment with a gas pressure below the earth's atmospheric pressure, liquid water is extracted from a subsurface water ice deposit by pumping superheated-supercritical fluid heated by a heater through an extraction well into the subsurface water ice deposit in order to form a liquid water reservoir. Liquid water is pumped from the liquid water reservoir through the extraction well to the buffer tank. The liquid water is pumped from the buffer tank into a high pressure feeder system (HPFS) and a low pressure feeder system (LPFS), which are each also heated by the heater. The HPFS outputs supercritical water and the LPFS outputs flash steam into a combined injector and the mixture is injected into a turbine at near environmental pressure. This mixture explosively expands into superheated steam and passes through the turbine, powering an electrical generator.

Pneumatically supported towers for low gravity applications are disclosed herein. In one aspect, an inflatable tower for use in vacuum environments can have a membrane configured to support a load when inflated with an inflation gas to a pressures less than 100,000 pascals and greater than 0.01 pascal. The inflation gas can be chosen to have a sufficiently low boiling temperature at the inflation pressure of the membrane that the gas will not condense to a liquid or solid within a defined range of temperatures in which the tower is designed to operate. The membrane can be configured to be packaged for transport in deflated condition and rolled onto cylinders from which the membrane can be later unfurled and inflated as part of the tower inflation process. The membrane can be further configured to progressively inflate beginning at a bottom or lowest level of the membrane during the tower inflation process. The membrane can be divided into a plurality of compartments by one or more diaphragms containing valves configured to regulate flow of the inflation gas between the compartments.

Described herein is a method of constructing a landing pad using a rocket engine while in-flight. Among other benefits, this method can reduce ejecta that otherwise would occur during landing on an unimproved surface. While a spacecraft is hovering over an unimproved surface, the spacecraft can inject particles into its rocket engine, after which the particles absorb heat from the engine and are projected at ballistic speeds toward the unimproved surface to create a landing pad. After constructing the landing pad and waiting for the landing pad to cool, the spacecraft can land on the landing pad. Also described herein are landing pads created from such particles as they impact the surface in a disc splat mode into the unimproved surface.

Described herein is a method of constructing a landing pad using a rocket engine while in-flight. Among other benefits, this method can reduce ejecta that otherwise would occur during landing on an unimproved surface. While a spacecraft is hovering over an unimproved surface, the spacecraft can inject particles into its rocket engine, after which the particles absorb heat from the engine and are projected at ballistic speeds toward the unimproved surface to create a landing pad. After constructing the landing pad and waiting for the landing pad to cool, the spacecraft can land on the landing pad. Also described herein are landing pads created from such particles as they impact the surface in a disc splat mode into the unimproved surface.

Described herein is a method of constructing a landing pad using a rocket engine while in-flight. Among other benefits, this method can reduce ejecta that otherwise would occur during landing on an unimproved surface. While a spacecraft is hovering over an unimproved surface, the spacecraft can inject particles into its rocket engine, after which the particles absorb heat from the engine and are projected at ballistic speeds toward the unimproved surface to create a landing pad. After constructing the landing pad and waiting for the landing pad to cool, the spacecraft can land on the landing pad. Also described herein are landing pads created from such particles as they impact the surface in a disc splat mode into the unimproved surface.

In some embodiments A space-based sensor fabrication system contains a fluid containment system connected to a fluid deposition system. The fluid deposition system is set up to manufacture a SAM onto an electrode blank in a microgravity environment. A fabrication chamber that is set up to house and control a number of different fabrication systems in a microgravity, low gravity, and/or no gravity environment. A space-based sensor fabrication system can use surface tension to hold a fluid in place during sensor fabrication.

Based on determined locations of Kukharev (K) regions, and the estimated times of their formation on Earth, in the atmosphere, and in space, antimatter may be produced and collected, as described by the present invention. Due to jumps in the gravitational field, various standing waves are formed from the resonances of the gravitational tides. A wave of charged particles is formed within the K region and can be setup to collide with targets comprising heavy metal atoms (or other equivalents), the colliding thereby creating antimatter particles. These antimatter particles can then be stored in various traps and used for various purposes, e.g., energy formation.

An optical mining apparatus comprising: a light weight solar reflector; optics for controlling the delivery of concentrated sun light onto the surface of a target; and a temperature controlled gas enclosure that contains the target; wherein said solar reflector is oriented to reflect sun light onto said optics.