Show Notes

This week, we review and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ) episode 37 - “Nahel Argama” (ネェル·アーガマ), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on different shuttle-launch methods.

- NASA's Space Shuttle Propulsion Trivia page and FAQ about the shuttle program.

- Article comparing the costs of different launch methods.

- Cost assessments for the different parts of the shuttle program.

- What happened to the last surviving external fuel tank from the shuttle program?

- The space shuttle by the numbers.

- NASA information page about the external fuel tank.

- Space shuttle orbiter dimensions.

- Information on the external solid rocket boosters.

- Wikipedia page on air-launch-to-orbit.

- 1998 rundown of designs for reusable launch vehicles, including some designed for air-launch-to-orbit.

- 2006 article about Kazakhstan and Russia collaborating on an air-launch-to-orbit system for satellites.

- 2007 conceptual design for a supersonic air-launch-to-orbit system.

- A brief look back on the history of Mass Driver research.

- 2019 assessment of Mass Drivers by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers:

E. Inger, "Mass Driver Design Traveling Earth to the Moon," in IEEE Access, vol. 7, pp. 161034-161039, 2019, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2950882. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8889556

- 2012 report on the StarTram mass driver design, by Lisa Zyga for Phys.org.

- Wikipedia article on the proof of concept mass driver built by Gerard O'Neill and team.

- 1977 newsletter for the L-5 Society (a space exploration enthusiast group) which mentions the demonstration of the O'Neill mass driver.

- A detailed explanation of the function and benefits of lunar mass drivers.