Maglevs and Waveriders

A young engineer proposes a design for a new type of spacecraft, one that will never touch Earth. Built in space by drones, lightships are solar- and plasma-powered cargo ships that drastically lower the cost of Earth orbit-to-Luna orbit space travel.

The lightships make a difference, but the cost of getting to the Moon is still too high to sustain permanent human habitats there. The huge gravity wells of Earth and the Moon are formidable problems. Rockets are expensive, costing tens of millions of dollars simply to put a person into Earth orbit. Fuel and boosters are completely used up on every trip.

Then the young engineer who created the lightship has an idea for beating the gravity wells and creating a reusable launch system. He and his best friend take on the project. Their maglev launcher in the mountains of Peru puts humans back in space.