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 Rotating Space Elevator
Striking concept may sound similar to sfnal technologies used by Forward and Pohl. (Read
the complete story)
| "Don't forget such variants as the ED Tether, which is much shorter, and not actually connected to the ground. It orbits, while also spinning around its own epicenter, and then uses interaction with the ionosphere to boost itself slowly towards higher orbit. This one would be placed in LEO, reaching down just far enough that a ship designed to fly like a plane could fly up, match velocities with the lower end of it as it spins by, and hitch a ride up to orbit. You then need to either wait a while, as the tether slowly boosts itself back up to orbit, or use it to deorbit a vehicle that wants to come back down, before you can risk using it to boost another vehicle to orbit, but, it is a useful and relatively cheap alternative.
http://www.tethers.com/EDTethers.html
(And I thought that this use for "untethered skyhooks" was described in Pournelle's book "A Step Further Out", which is a collection of lectures he gave back in the late 70's and early 80's)" (Ashley 5/27/2009 7:04:15 AM) |
| "Ah, found what this site is calling the ones Pournelle described: Bolos or Rotovators.
http://www.tethers.com/MXTethers.html
So it looks like this concept has been around since at least the 80's, if not earlier, and the ED variants have been around since the late 80's." (Ashley 5/27/2009 7:15:47 AM) |
| "The Lofstrom launch loop is a separate concept to this. This idea spins the tether link you would a skipping tope, but vertically (with one end attached to the ground and one to the geostationary anchor). The launch loop spins a loop along it's length, using the centrifugal force to widen the loop (lifting it up, but not out of the atmosphere).
Rotovators/skyhooks are again different, with the tether remaining straight and rotating around it's centre, alternately dipping into the atmosphere at it's ends.
As far as I can tell, this is a truly new concept. I'd hate to think what additional requirements it puts on the already high required tether strength though. I wonder how the energy required to lift loads is compensated for (I assume that lifting a weight up the elevator slows it's rotation), unless there is an odd resonance affect or it somehow works akin to gravitational slingshotting and borrows momentum from the Earth instead of from the tether." ( 5/27/2009 7:49:41 AM) |
| "Yes, a Lofstrom loop is a separate concept.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lofstrom_launch_loop" (Winchell Chung 5/27/2009 1:33:18 PM) |
| "The launcher in Forward's DRAGON'S EGG was more like a space fountain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_fountain" (Winchell Chung 5/27/2009 1:33:49 PM) |
| "I'm not clear on this term 'slide' ..." (um 5/30/2009 10:46:05 PM) |
| "How do you spin this loop and the most important question is: which force drives you (or a payload) up from the earth against gravity without an extra kaunching force? The stirring coffee cup idea is just nonsense. It just drags down to earth the counterweight in space. Or?" (Arno Schrauwers 6/9/2009 1:31:12 AM) |
Get more information on Rotating Space Elevator
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
SpaceX Wants A Moonbase Alpha
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
Vast Apartment Living Will Get Even More Vast
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
NASA Wants Self-Driving Or Remote-Controlled Vehicles For Lunar Astronauts
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
Elon Musk Says Robotaxis Will Be Ready This August, 2024
'The car had no steering wheel, and no one drove!'
Moonwalkers AI-Controlled Electric Shoes
Now that's power walking that Hugo Gernsback would have approved.
Steve Jobs: 'Capture The Next Aristotle - With AI'
'It was disturbing to think of the Flatline as a construct...'
No Tips! Robotic Food Delivery In Phoenix
'...he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.'
Electric Catamaran 'Explorer Eco 40m' Has 'Solar Skin'
'On went the electric-yacht faster and still faster.'
Orbital Mechanics, The Liftoff, The Turnover, The Retrograde Burn
'...the huge vessel had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle, the instant the power was reversed.'
Harvest Power From Tears And Blinking With Smart Contact Lens
'...he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it.'
Europa Clipper Plate Carries A Special Message
'...a universal cryptogram — yet it is one which can be interpreted by any intelligent creature on any planet in the Solar System!'
Micro-Robots Are Smallest, Fully Functional
'With a whir, the Scarab shot from the concealing shadows of the corner where it had hidden itself.'
AI Enhances Images Your Brain Sees
'I could have sworn the psychomat showed pictures almost as sharp and detailed as reality itself'
Illustrating Classic Heinlein With AI
'Stasis, cold sleep, hibernation, hypothermia, reduced metabolism, call it what you will - the logistics-medicine research teams had found a way to stack people like cordwood and use them when needed.'
Deflector Plasma Screen For Drones ala Star Wars
'If the enemy persists in attacking or even intensifies their power, the density of the plasma in space will suddenly increase, causing it to reflect most of the incoming energy like a mirror.'
DIY Robotic Hand Made After Loss Of Fingers
'I made them... with the fine work of the watchmaker...'
Cheap Drunk Driver Detection From UofM
"Look, I can drive... Start, darn it!"
Can A Human Land A SpaceX Rocket On Its Tail?
'If she starts to roll sideways — blooey! The underjets only hold you up when they’re pointing down, you know.'
Robot Snakes No Longer Stopped By Stairs
'...she dropped her hands from the wheel, took the robot snake from his box.'
Has Turkey Been Stealing Rain From Iran?
Can one country take another's rain?
