Up until fairly recently in human history, people believed that a solid dome, studded with the Sun, Moon, and stars, lay above Earth. The ancients called this dome the firmament. Above it, the ancient Jews taught, lay the vault of heaven. Our human instinct—something in our DNA, perhaps—compels us to rise beyond such barriers. The aerospace equivalent of the firmament is the Gravity Well.
Read MoreSpiritually, our nation lies stuck at the bottom of the Well, uncertain of how to break free. And yet, this is the beautiful thing about the space program: The Gravity Well is not just a metaphor.
Read MoreTo travel to Mars, astronauts will have to complete about 8,750 Columbus voyages of distance.
Read MoreSeeing the overall mission as one of conquering and then escaping the Gravity Well lets us focus also on the need to settle as well as explore. It is this connection that makes this investment so practically valuable for everyday citizens.
Read MoreThe Gravity Well does not look like a well when we consider it from our perspective here on Earth. It seems more like a wall than a well—or, rather, a mountain. This vertical peak has a few flat ledges and a few small valleys, all defined by gravitational forces.
Read MoreTo an astrophysicist, the Gravity Well is a physical force, a field of attraction between two bodies in space, diminishing with distance. For engineers, the Gravity Well is the great physical challenge of overcoming that force.
Read MoreAt 240,000 miles on average, the Moon lies only one fifth of the way to the top of the Gravity Well.
Read MoreIs the Gravity Well worth the cost? To answer that question, we need to look at one of its least understood benefits.
Read MoreIt really wasn’t that long ago when the two greatest superpowers were vying to put satellites into space. Now, 50 nations have their own satellites in low Earth orbit. If you’re a Thailand, say, you can call Space Systems/Loral, a Canadian-owned company based in Palo Alto, California, and tell them you want to put a satellite into geostationary orbit for television broadcasting or military communications. You can have the thing in orbit 25,000 miles above Earth within two years.
