Main Advances

Most of the space system architectures considered here were not developed to particularly exploit the capabilities of MNT. In particular, one of the major benefits of MNT would be the novel function of a general purpose material processing capability. Since this is a novel function, however, it is not included in previously defined space system architectures.

The capability of MNT which previously defined space system architectures do take particular advantage of is the increased strength-to-density afforded by MNT structural components. The material properties assumed in the prior analyses of space system architectures, and the comparable MNT values, are shown in table 2 below.

Table 2. Values for material properties used in this research.

Material	Strength (Pa)	Density (kg/m3)
Aluminum (cold formed)	3.52 x 10^8	2,650
Steel (cold drawn)	1.240 x 10^9	7,800
Titanium (cold formed)	9.31 x 10^8	4,540
Graphite crystals	2.1 x 10^10	2,200
MNT Structural Material (Diamondoid)	5 x 10^10	3,510

The main conclusions of this research are that rockets can be made significantly more efficient, and vastly more cost efficient, the feasibility of orbital skyhooks is improved, interplanetary propulsion could have high performance, and very large inhabited space colonies could be structurally sound.