For some reason I don't have the "space bug" as strongly as some others do, so I take these ideas as "not impossible but possibly too difficult or expensive to actually achieve". But we have surprised ourselves before!!
I am glad you did address the orbital loss situation, although I suspect conservation of momentum will still catch us up? How else are you adding momentum to the spacecraft returning from the moon or mars such that that momentum can counteract the loss from the initial launch into space?
On your sling diagram, it seems to me it shows a suboptimal approach, using an "overhand pitch" rather than an "underhand pitch" scheme? Isn't the momentum of the payload-to-be-caught acting against the momentum of the tether slinging action?
As to momentum, there are a lot of options, fall thrusters, chemical propulsion...etc. I like the concept, I still think we are some decades before they are practical.
If you look at the electrical activity of cables in the sky (think Ben Franklin)… and you know how hurricanes actually form, and you research what happened when a space shuttle extended a metal cable, once, to see what would happen (hint: it fried the electronics) I think you’ll move away from this idea.
My guess: a stationary hurricane will start to form around any earth-anchored tether or “space elevator” (if it’s conductive) and the eye will center itself on said structure. Why do I think this? Long story. I can’t talk about it.
* while not a religious believer I am enthralled by the concept of the "design solution" offered by evolution providing for a variety of random (or maybe "random") changes (aka adjustments) among which to select for continued survival as changing conditions warrant. If the "design" goal is continued existence of "life" in toto rather than worrying about continued existence of a particular species .... or maybe there is no "goal" at all????
Plus Matt Ridley in The Evolution of Everything expands this idea to a wider set of domains.
** on green skinned solar energy absorbing animals, I am surprised we have not seen more of this in nature so far. Why have only the typically stationary plants evolved this capability? Of course cold blooded animals sun themselves to warm up enough to get moving, but that is only a suboptimal answer for maximizing energy gain from the sun. What about evolving the equivlaent of photovoltaic doped silicon scales or plates? Or exoskeleton? Or using other materials more suitable for other ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum? Electromagnetic chameleons? Part of what might be needed by space living entities of some sort?
Thanks for the opportunity to wander and wonder in these comments. :-)
I have no idea if the logistics of this makes it prohibitively expensive but this appears way more elegant and doable than any other options I’ve seen for getting stuff out of LEO. Nice :)
Something of a philosophical question as to whether we can or should think we can forestall or even side step our species extinction; or even that we should truly want to do so? We see death as part of the "natural" cycle to renewed and potentially "improved" life via evolution*. If our environmental conditions change radically enough, our nominal human form (and mind?) may be inadequate to survive without some significant changes in phenotype?
Thinking about this just a little, I asked how might we evolve into something that can survive either "in space" or have the ability to "cross space"? Perhaps we have time over the next 10 billion years before Old Sol goes Nova to become some sort of "energy beings" or whatever?
This led me to fantasize about evolving into lizard-like animals with green skin that contained chlorophyyl** to absorb solar energy. Not sure what the next step could or should be towards a free floating space occupying entity.
Also, the distances and time required for interstellar travel are so great (even at 0.95 speed of light c) that unless we find a way to create or find "worm holes" or "fold space" or "cross dimensional barriers", or ??? I don't really see us leaving our particular star system. This of course might also explain why we don't see other signs of life, as whatever civilizations might arise elsewhere can't or don't survive long enough to make their presence known outside of their star system??
For some reason I don't have the "space bug" as strongly as some others do, so I take these ideas as "not impossible but possibly too difficult or expensive to actually achieve". But we have surprised ourselves before!!
I am glad you did address the orbital loss situation, although I suspect conservation of momentum will still catch us up? How else are you adding momentum to the spacecraft returning from the moon or mars such that that momentum can counteract the loss from the initial launch into space?
On your sling diagram, it seems to me it shows a suboptimal approach, using an "overhand pitch" rather than an "underhand pitch" scheme? Isn't the momentum of the payload-to-be-caught acting against the momentum of the tether slinging action?
As to momentum, there are a lot of options, fall thrusters, chemical propulsion...etc. I like the concept, I still think we are some decades before they are practical.
If you look at the electrical activity of cables in the sky (think Ben Franklin)… and you know how hurricanes actually form, and you research what happened when a space shuttle extended a metal cable, once, to see what would happen (hint: it fried the electronics) I think you’ll move away from this idea.
My guess: a stationary hurricane will start to form around any earth-anchored tether or “space elevator” (if it’s conductive) and the eye will center itself on said structure. Why do I think this? Long story. I can’t talk about it.
This device is truly interesting though, it’s an advanced version of Tesla’s flying chair concept: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cFtkFRUDAbE
Similar to the Dean drive, this is some kind of gyrokinetic thruster.
* while not a religious believer I am enthralled by the concept of the "design solution" offered by evolution providing for a variety of random (or maybe "random") changes (aka adjustments) among which to select for continued survival as changing conditions warrant. If the "design" goal is continued existence of "life" in toto rather than worrying about continued existence of a particular species .... or maybe there is no "goal" at all????
Plus Matt Ridley in The Evolution of Everything expands this idea to a wider set of domains.
** on green skinned solar energy absorbing animals, I am surprised we have not seen more of this in nature so far. Why have only the typically stationary plants evolved this capability? Of course cold blooded animals sun themselves to warm up enough to get moving, but that is only a suboptimal answer for maximizing energy gain from the sun. What about evolving the equivlaent of photovoltaic doped silicon scales or plates? Or exoskeleton? Or using other materials more suitable for other ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum? Electromagnetic chameleons? Part of what might be needed by space living entities of some sort?
Thanks for the opportunity to wander and wonder in these comments. :-)
I have no idea if the logistics of this makes it prohibitively expensive but this appears way more elegant and doable than any other options I’ve seen for getting stuff out of LEO. Nice :)
Something of a philosophical question as to whether we can or should think we can forestall or even side step our species extinction; or even that we should truly want to do so? We see death as part of the "natural" cycle to renewed and potentially "improved" life via evolution*. If our environmental conditions change radically enough, our nominal human form (and mind?) may be inadequate to survive without some significant changes in phenotype?
Thinking about this just a little, I asked how might we evolve into something that can survive either "in space" or have the ability to "cross space"? Perhaps we have time over the next 10 billion years before Old Sol goes Nova to become some sort of "energy beings" or whatever?
This led me to fantasize about evolving into lizard-like animals with green skin that contained chlorophyyl** to absorb solar energy. Not sure what the next step could or should be towards a free floating space occupying entity.
Also, the distances and time required for interstellar travel are so great (even at 0.95 speed of light c) that unless we find a way to create or find "worm holes" or "fold space" or "cross dimensional barriers", or ??? I don't really see us leaving our particular star system. This of course might also explain why we don't see other signs of life, as whatever civilizations might arise elsewhere can't or don't survive long enough to make their presence known outside of their star system??
Footnotes in next comment :-)