realtime - 20/11/2005 5:05 PMWhat forces need controlling besides the reel and the motor? There are no aerodynamic forces to contend with, so there's nothing to cause it to depart from a Newtonian trajectory. At least, not until you release the payload. Then there might be some oscillatory motions of the line to deal with. What happens then?Loss of power's not so bad if you provide a means of reeling the line back in. A crafty mechanical engineer could design an automatic system that wouldn't require power.Some failure of the payout or reelback system would make for a bad day. It would become the biggest weed-whacker in the solar system.
vanilla - 29/12/2005 8:12 PMHere's an image from AIAA paper 90-2109: "Lunar and Mars Mission Architecture Utilizing Tether-Launched LLOX" by David Baker and Robert Zubrin, written in 1990.
Sling Fan - 28/2/2006 11:40 PMQuotevanilla - 29/12/2005 8:12 PMHere's an image from AIAA paper 90-2109: "Lunar and Mars Mission Architecture Utilizing Tether-Launched LLOX" by David Baker and Robert Zubrin, written in 1990. Logistically, how hard would that be to place and set up on the moon?
vanilla - 5/3/2006 9:49 PMQuoteSling Fan - 5/3/2006 9:42 PMWhere are we exactly with the concept? I have watched the capture device videos on the video section which were shown alongside the recent article here, but there's been nothing else of note as far as taking the concept to the stage you propose.This is the problem. Has it already become something that was a concept that was seen to be non viable and thus is nothing more than an impressive video?Which system are you referring to? A momentum-exchange/electrodynamic reboost tether in Earth orbit, or a lunar sling?They are very different. One operates in free space and is very long to keep the tip accelerations reasonable for human use, while the other is attached to the surface and is relatively short (in comparison) and has very high tip accelerations, but is meant for bulk cargo only (such as lunar-derived propellant or ore).
Sling Fan - 5/3/2006 9:42 PMWhere are we exactly with the concept? I have watched the capture device videos on the video section which were shown alongside the recent article here, but there's been nothing else of note as far as taking the concept to the stage you propose.This is the problem. Has it already become something that was a concept that was seen to be non viable and thus is nothing more than an impressive video?
I still wonder if we couldn't build a smaller version of this idea on earth.
Could this type of launch apparatus be set up inside a 100km-diameter crater, to compartmentalize it from its surroundings?