Statistics:

• 94 contraptions
• 65 frames
• 128 images
• 3 tables

Author: Andrew Nowicki

Acknowledgments: Andrew J. Higgins provided much valuable information about guns and ram accelerators. Enrico Lorenzini, Jerome Pearson, Geoffrey A. Landis, Keith H. Lofstrom, and Derek A. Tidman James A. Davis discussed ideas included in this publication.

Copyright: Copy it right to your hard disk and disseminate by all means. Here is 1.9 MB zip file for your convenience: SPBI1.ZIP.

ISSUES

• INTRODUCTION

• STRUCTURAL MATERIALS

• AIR-BREATHING ENGINES

• GUNS

• TAPERED SLINGS

• PLASMA WINDOWS

• RECYCLING SPACE JUNK

• CAPTURE TUBES

• ORBITAL GREENHOUSES AND SETI

APPLICATIONS

1. CHEMICAL ROCKET LAUNCHER

2. TURBOENGINES

3. NUCLEAR ROCKET LAUNCHERS

4. RAMJET AND ITS KIN

5. ELECTROTHERMAL RAMJET AND ROCKET

6. RAM AND BLAST-WAVE ACCELERATORS

7. ONE STAGE LIGHT GAS GUN

8. TWO STAGE LIGHT GAS GUN

9. VORTEX GUN AND ITS KIN

10. ICE GUN

11. MAGLEV TRAIN

12. COILGUN

13. RAILGUN

14. ROCKET - PROJECTILE - BOLO RELAY

15. LASER AND MICROWAVE ROCKETS

16. LAUNCH LOOP

17. ELEVATOR SUPPORTED BY FOUNTAIN

18. ORBITING DIAMAGNETIC PARTICLES

19. GEOSTATIONARY TOWER

20. SKYHOOK

21. SKYHOOK ON TOWER

22. ORBITAL SLINGS

23. SLING ON TOWER

24. GUNSLING RELAY

25. SLINGATRON

26. ORBITAL ELEVATOR

27. ORBITAL RING

28. ORBITAL COILGUN

29. ROTATING ORBITAL PIPE

30. ELECTROTUBE

31. ORBITAL LOOP

32. MOON-EARTH MOMENTUM EXCHANGE

33. GEOMAGNETIC LEVITATION

34. EXPLOSIVE ACCELERATORS

35. MICROWAVE KITE

36. BALLOON GUN