Tethers, Inc.

We've been discussing how orbital rings have saved the Venus colony, and how Phobos shall be dismantled. Key to both schemes was the word "tether". Last year ToughSF was telling about how Kevlar tethers orbiting within Van Allen could move satellites out of LEO into the friendly mid-belt region, or into geosynch, or even to Mars or Venus themselves. (And yes, ToughSF knows that Kevlar SUCKS EIGHTYS STYLE so offers alternatives.) Sounds awesome. Why don't we have tethers now?

It hasn't been worth it, is why. As yet. It soon will be, I think.

Up to now, private industry has only just got started in getting stuff into LEO. And that's only become feasible because it has been economically feasible: reusable rockets. These are mostly by SpaceX although RocketLab is catching up at least to the Falcon model; there are also some nonrocket options coming online. Beyond LEO costs more. So it's been government agencies footing that bill, which means taxpayers, whom governments either despise (Republicans) or are corrupted by (Democrats). What's another two billion if you can just stick someone you hate with the tab. Hell: this makes waste into a feature.

We're at the point where the Tragedy Of The LEO Commons is coming to its third act. Luckily, also running in the LEO theatre is the feel-good hit of the millennium: The Starship.

Once Starship works, which it will (whether American activists allow it on our soil or not), SpaceX's customers will want lower prices. Elon Musk will respond to them with one word: "propellant". (Maybe "Tsiolkovsky".) Not because the propellant is pricey; it is not. More because that is mass and volume SpaceX would rather use for, er, cargo. Currently SpaceX is set to be The Only Game In Town for large loads, so they can just tell their customers, that's the way it is, and shrug. For small loads, though, SpaceX will be competing with RocketLab and SpinLaunch. Actually with the latter SpaceX might even want a partnership.

Imagine if a smallsat company could get its load into a higher orbit without... any propellant at all. They hire SpinLaunch to go to LEO. They then hire a tether company to boost it to the midrange. That should end up cheaper than whatever SpaceX is offering, even with that Santa Sleigh which is SuperHeavy.

So why doesn't SpaceX sue their competitors, like Jeff Bezos would do? Well... maybe because SpaceX doesn't mind what SpinLaunch is up to. SpinLaunch, coupled with a spinning tether, can get more propellant up to a high orbit. That is what an orbit-to-planet company wants: gas stations.

So: who is making those tethers, to supply those gas stations?