The phrase "tyranny of the rocket equation" seems to go back at least as far as this 2012 NASA article:<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20230725181037/https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition30/tryanny.html" rel="nofollow">http://web.archive.org/web/20230725181037/https://www.nasa.g...</a><p>More on the actual rocket equation can be found here: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky_rocket_equation" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky_rocket_equation</a>
So could you use a balloon to get to 100,000 feet and then use a solar powered ionic lifter to get to space? There are more ways to get to space than using rockets. The "tyranny of the rocket equation" only applies to rockets.
To my simple mind bigger rockets are better because a smaller percentage of the useable mass is used for the guidance system etc and a bigger percentage can be used for the cargo.