The high cost of escaping Earth’s gravity is the dominant factor that continues to limit large scale exploration and exploitation of space. With continuous technology advances, the cost of space launch is gradually decreasing, however, it is still several thousand dollars per kilogram. Lowering the cost of access to space therefore remains a major policy objective for space agencies all over the globe. A large fraction of the weight of a rocket is fuel and expendable rocket stages. Recent introduction of the reusable rocket stages is a major step in reducing the launch cost. Work is also underway to develop alternatives such as ground-based, beamed energy propulsion, which would revolutionize space launch systems.

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