/sci/ - Science & Math

Use a launch loop or railgun accelerated spaceplane to send up cargo, and a single stage ground to orbit vehicle like the Delta Clipper (pictured) to carry human beings. These lightweight no frills passenger rockets could carry many more people and cost far less per launch using trinitramid based fuel.

http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/12/swedish-researchers-have-discover.html

Human workers in orbit would assemble large reusable vessels for carrying colonists and resources between the Earth and the moon/mars from components launched into orbit by the launch loop. Once the vessel is complete and arrives at its destination, inflatable habitats in cushioned, rocket braked drop-crates would be sent to the surface. Machinery sent ahead of time would have refined oxygen from the soil and stored it in large tanks. The inflatable habitats could be quickly set up and hooked into the fresh air supply.

This inflatable base camp would be used as a base of operations until colonists could seal off and pressurize lava tubes, which is where the real colony would be.

I chose the Delta Clipper as an example because it's actually been built and flown. It was viable with the fuel mixtures of 1993. Imagine if the advantages of a single stage orbital vehicle like the DC-X could be coupled with a payload capacity equivalent to or in excess of the space shuttles'.

Private space firm "Blue Origin" is working on a DC-X derivative, and I expect they're as excited by this news as I am.