Launch Loop Short Abstract

The Launch Loop - A Low Cost, Earth-to-High Orbit Launch System

The Launch Loop ( http://launchloop.com ) is based on momentum and energy storage in a long (5600km) and narrow (5 cm) hypervelocity (14km/s) iron rotor. The Launch Loop is powered and deployed from the ground, protected from space debris by the upper atmosphere, can launch thousands of tons per day to high orbit for dollars per kilogram, and can be built with existing engineering materials for a few gigadollars (mostly for the electric power plants that drive it). Near term applications include power storage and transmission.

Keith Lofstrom ( http://keithl.com/ ) is a mixed-signal integrated circuit designer in Beaverton, Oregon. He is CEO of SiidTech ( http://siidtech.com/ ), licensing silicon identification technology based on the physics of transistor mismatch. His newest busines is Server Sky ( http://server-sky.com ), a proposal for large arrays of tiny satellites which convert space solar power into computation. Keith has written for Kluwer Press, various IEEE journals, SysAdmin magazine, Liberty magazine, aerospace journals, and Analog.