Re: Favoritre anime starships

Nakajima, Aya wrote:
>> I believe someting similar to this can be seen in use in the Bubblegum
>> Crisis 2040 anime series. ;p

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005, Julian Fong <jhfong@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>That's something a little different: a non-synchronous skyhook. Its
>center of gravity is in low orbit, and it tumbles end-over-end so that
>each of its ends will contact the surface at certain fixed locations to
>pick up cargo.

Not quite the surface; the original design had rendezvous and
pod-transfer using aircraft. More vertical space for adjustment that
way.

>When the cargo containers have rotated back up into
>space, they can be released into orbit, or lunar or interplanetary
>trajectories.

Also known as a "rotovator," a concept originated by the late
physicist and SF author Robert L. Forward (and collaborators) and
described in some detail in his novel _Timemaster_.

Unlike a space elevator, a rotovator needn't be locked to the equator.
However, it also wouldn't be limited to Tokyo harbor -- its orbit is
such that it has "touchdowns" at multiple locations north and south of
the equator.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotovator

>Non-synchronous skyhooks would be easier to build than
>orbital elevators, and they'd cause less damage if their cables are cut.

Even a surface-to-orbit elevator would cause little damage if cut.
The current leading design (buckytube ribbon) has a weight-to-surface
ratio such that it would *drift*, not fall. That's the lower segment;
the portion above the cut would be dragged upward by the centrifugal
force of the counterweight.

/- Phillip Thorne ----------- The Non-Sequitur Express --------------------\
| org underbase ta thorne www.underbase.org It's the boundary |
| net comcast ta pethorne site, newsletter, blog conditions that |
\------------------------------------------------------- get you ----------/
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Skyhooks - how many, and where?
    ... disaster. ... Plus a lot of damage on the ground. ... hour orbit. ... So with respect to the OP's original question, it seems that the possibility of collapsing skyhooks does not impose any restrictions on their placement along the equator. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.science)
  • Re: OT: No apologies?
    ... thicker at the equator. ... Of course the Soviets conducted their own measurements and ... Payload, Ajisai has a very precisely determined orbit, updated at ... since the satellite is in near-Earth orbit, ...
    (rec.music.classical.guitar)
  • STS-1, Tiles, A View From the Inside
    ... Now, I remember STS-1 and some issues with tiles, as I'm sure many of us do. ... I think Mach 3 on the Shuttle occurs around 90,000 to 100,000 feet, so ... in orbit, that the crew could go outside and take a look to see if anything ... concerned about whether the Shuttle had significant tile damage on the bottom. ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
  • STS-1, Tiles, A View From the Inside
    ... Now, I remember STS-1 and some issues with tiles, as I'm sure many of us do. ... I think Mach 3 on the Shuttle occurs around 90,000 to 100,000 feet, so ... in orbit, that the crew could go outside and take a look to see if anything ... concerned about whether the Shuttle had significant tile damage on the bottom. ...
    (sci.space.history)
  • Re: OT: No apologies?
    ... thicker at the equator. ... Of course the Soviets conducted their own measurements and ... Payload, Ajisai has a very precisely determined orbit, updated at ... since the satellite is in near-Earth orbit, ...
    (rec.music.classical.guitar)