To: NicknamedBob
Well it doesn't change the amount of energy for each mass going to orbit, we express that as change in velocity, or Delta Vee.
A capture could work but it would have to catch head on, and G forces would be immense, we may have a few k (1000s m/s) of dV, we need about 9k m/s to get to LEO. Delivering that much to the vehicle in a short time would make anything on board Jelly (IMHO).
Nice thing is a few k more of delta V and you get almost anywhere. A successful Lunar craft needs about 15km/s of Delta Vee. With that I can go most anywhere I need to around the Earth/moon system.
7 posted on
06/20/2004 8:22:50 PM PDT by
Dominick
("Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought." - JP II)
To: Dominick
You are exactly correct.
I don't recall the details of the article well enough now to recall what the sizes might have to be. Not dissimilar from the old Jules Verne notion of using a cannon, I would suspect.
How big would an electric catapult on the moon have to be, to be safe for human cargo? A calculation would yield the answer -- what's the minimum distance for sustaining the maximum acceleration? (Rough approximation, the last half second has to cover several miles, but that would essentially describe something like a miles-long antenna tower, with electric coils every few meters or kilometers.)
It may be that the concept could only work for certain bulk goods type of cargo. Still, that would be useful for sending a resupply ship to Mars.
Note that any cargo composed of equally magnetic materials would enjoy equal forces of accel and decel. Everything else would have to be robust.
8 posted on
06/20/2004 8:41:50 PM PDT by
NicknamedBob
(You don't find happiness, you WILL it -- just as you will an open hand, instead of a clenched fist.)
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