J.JPM@LOTS-B (Jim McGrath) (01/07/86)
I remember reading an article that stated that such a loss would not be a problem. Basically, instead of using mass from higher orbits to accelerator the accelerator (which is not practical in the short term), one would probably use either reaction motors or a dymano effect (as the accelerator passes through the earth's magnetic field, it acts as a generator/motor - you can increase momentum by putting power into the field, get energy by losing momentum). However, I forget the numbers involved (i.e. how much reaction mass, or how much power (that is, solar cells) would be required). Jim -------