spacefire - 14/4/2006 9:27 PMcarbon nanotubes could be put to use to sustain space exploration in a more acheievlable way than a space elevator.Imagine a nuclear powered 'helicopter' with ultra-thin flexible, reelable, up to 10mile long rotor blades.At the tips of the blades are two payloads,each fitted with a rocket motor second stage. At altitudes of 100,000ft, the payloads, now spinning at speeds of thousands of miles per hour, are released and fire their rocket motors to achieve orbit.Because the 'blades' at the release time extemely long, the centrifugal forces on the payloads can be kept relatively low while the speeds can reach signivicant fractions of the LEO Delta-V.
Jim - 27/4/2006 3:42 PMunworkable.
rnc - 5/5/2006 8:09 PMOn other hand, if it takes $10bn to build one, that does not equate to many years of CLV/CaLV launches.
kraisee - 6/5/2006 12:08 AMBut what if it takes $100,000Bn and five hundred years to develop?Excuse the terrible pun, but exactly how long is this piece of string? (no, not litterally) We obviously can't tell how long it will take to develop, or if it will simply be a flash-in-the-pan idea to be superseded by something entirely different again.