Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
 |
Comments on Gravity Tractor Research By British Scientists
It would take some planning and advance tracking, but a gravity tractor might actually work. (Read
the complete story)
| "Can I ask why you wouldn't just turn the spaceship around, and push the thing off course? I think it's great to think about these things and come up with cool ideas, but this one doesn't seem too practical..." ( 9/4/2009 9:39:52 AM) |
| "It depends on the consistency of the asteroid. Some asteroids run on the light side - they're porous, a bunch of small masses barely fused, or a clump of gravel bound by their own meager gravity. A pushing rocket may blow right through it. The gravity tug would be a good choice for that type of situation. " (Joe the Rat 9/4/2009 10:15:59 AM) |
| "Pushing is also very hard to do effectively as the asteroid is spinning. You want to push consistantly in one direction which you you can't do if you're attached to a spinning opject. The GT allows the object to spin and a constant force along the velocity vector to be applied over a long period. Also, power issues could arrise from eclipse periods on the surface etc. And it's no mean feat to land and anchor a spacecraft to an asteroid with a very low gravity field..." (Craig B 1/7/2010 6:45:06 AM) |
| "Pushing celestial bodies has a long descriptive history in sf. Take a look at this description of planetary propulsion blast technology in Edmond Hamilton's 1934 classic 'Thundering Worlds'." (Bill Christensen 1/7/2010 9:42:26 AM) |
| "Also, Robert Heinlein gives a long description of first stopping an asteroid from spinning and then slotting it into a specified orbit in his 1940 novella 'Misfit'." (Bill Christensen 1/7/2010 9:46:15 AM) |
Get more information on Gravity Tractor Research By British Scientists
Leave a comment:
Tediously, spammers have returned; if you have a comment, send it to bill at this site (include the story name) and I'll post it.
More Articles
Russians Create Robot Tank Platoons
'The remotely-operated robot tank is an old idea...'
3D-Printed Exoskeleton Learns From Your Hand
'...small electric motors at the principal joints worked the prosthetic framework by means of steel cables...'
Smartwatch Powered By Slime Mold
'Living protoplasm incorporated into the Ampek F-a2 recording system...'
Unmanned Boats Attack At Sea
'The autofreighter smashed into the boat...'
Carpentopod Walking Table
'Twoflower's Luggage, which was currently ambling along on its little legs...'
Iron Drone Raider Counter-UAV Operations
'You've got an aggressive machine up in the air now.'
SpaceX Rocket Shuttle Point-To-Point On Earth
'He came to as the ship went into free flight, arching in a high parabola over the plains...'
Quaise Uses Beams Of Energy To Dig Geothermal Wells
'The peculiar quality of this light, which gave it its great preeminence over all other penetrating rays...'
Robots Repair And Modify Themselves
'The overworked leg motor would have to cool down before he could work on it...'
Waymo And Tesla 'Autonomous Cabs' Are Piloted By Remote Drivers
‘Where to, sport?’ the starter at cab relay asked.
Robot Janitors Get To Work
'A few mechanical cleaning devices crept here and there...'
Robots Learn To Install Charged Batteries Into Themselves
This is nothing new for science fiction fans!
Robot Rabbits Entice Pythons
'That little robot rabbit knew what it was talking about...'
LLM 'Cognitive Core' Now Evolving
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
Has Elon Musk Given Up On Mars?
'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.'
Bacteria Turns Plastic Into Pain Relief? That Gives Me An Idea.
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
When Your Child's Best Friend Is An AI
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...'
China's Drone Mothership Can Carry 100 Drones
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...'
Drones Recharge In Mid-Air Like Jets Refuel!
'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'
Australian Authors Reject AI Training Of Llama
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
