In the future, we may have better ways of escaping earth than our brute force rockets.<p>If we can use our atmosphere as oxidizer, like planes do, we could get to orbit with far better mass fraction. And far less fuel. Closer to a normal plane than a tin can full of explosives.<p>Problems are heat related, at speeds and altitude needed regular jet engines would melt. There's ongoing research into precoolers to make the concept work with fairly normal engines.<p>The British are working on this, with Skylon and the Sabre engine. <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylon_(spacecraft)" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylon_(spacecraft)</a>
It's not the payload mass increase which leads to exponential increase of starting mass. It's the payload <i>speed</i> increase which requires exponential increase in starting mass.