A good read.
1 posted on
02/05/2002 5:49:23 AM PST by
vannrox
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To: vannrox;Mark War
Bumped. And a ping.
2 posted on
02/05/2002 5:55:04 AM PST by
techcor
To: vannrox
kewl.
To: ScreamingFist
cool tech bump
5 posted on
02/05/2002 6:00:43 AM PST by
freefly
To: vannrox
Neat - yet one more step towards machines that have no need for humans? They decide we should be removed? Lets all go home and watch good old "Terminator"......
6 posted on
02/05/2002 6:02:50 AM PST by
DETAILER
To: vannrox
That's very interesting! Thanks for the post.
To: vannrox
Brings back memories. I led the pre-flight navigation analysis of TSS-1, the first tethered satellite mission.
To: vannrox
Bump for later read. . .
To: vannrox; RadioAstronomer; longshadow; PatrickHenry
Thanks for the post! For those of us (like myself) who need a bit more information about how the danged thing works, here's another article:
Science Daily
10 posted on
02/05/2002 6:08:38 AM PST by
Scully
To: vannrox
The root problem we've got is that NASA has become a welfare program for space scientists and engineers, and doesn't do enough missions that advance getting hardware in orbit cheaply. There have been any number of concepts deserving study / development money killed for the sake of bureaucratic inertia.
If this can do that, let's hope it doesn't become another one.
To: vannrox
Good find! A very interesting mode of propulsion. I'll have to look forward to updates on its performance.
12 posted on
02/05/2002 6:09:14 AM PST by
callisto
To: vannrox
It is indeed cool. The concept was demonstrated during the Shuttle tether experiment. I left the Shuttle program just before that mission, but as I recall, we expected a force on the order of 2 lbs -- which is actually quite a lot for a spacecraft.
What they're talking about here is the use of electricity and the Earth's magnetic field.
However, tethers potentially provide another form of "propulsion," in the sense that the top or bottom ends of the tether are going the "wrong speed" for their altitude -- the system moves at the velocity of the center of mass. You can use the position on the tether to raise or lower an orbit.
If you raise something to the top of the tether and let it go, it's going faster than orbital velocity for that altitude. Letting it go raises the orbit. (Which is what happened to the Tethered Satellite piece after the line broke.)
Likewise for downward -- it's going too slow for the altitude, so letting it go lowers the orbit. (Which is what happened to the Shuttle when the line broke.)
This approach probably works best when you have a massive center structure with tethers extending up and/or down, and relatively light deployables.
13 posted on
02/05/2002 6:11:58 AM PST by
r9etb
To: vannrox
Yawn. Good only in near-earth space; develops a mouse-fart of thrust.
Same with tethers. They are only "momentum transfer" devices, providing modest increases in velocity which is given to the payload at the tether's expense...ultimately paid by a small dimunition of the Earth's momentum.
Neither technology will work for boosters or deep-space propulsion. In this sense they are just stupid stunts.
--Boris
15 posted on
02/05/2002 6:21:48 AM PST by
boris
To: vannrox
Recommended reading: "Tank Farm Dynamo" by David Brin (short story).
To: vannrox
Bump for a fantastic read.
To: vannrox
Interesting. I wonder what the principle is behind the thrust.
To: vannrox
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to appreciate this. This is good stuff. Go USA!
To: vannrox;space
Space bump.
31 posted on
02/05/2002 12:09:40 PM PST by
Brett66
To: Berosus; blam; Ernest_at_the_Beach; FairOpinion; ValerieUSA; SunkenCiv
Going through some of my old bookmarks. I thought that you would enjoy this.
33 posted on
02/24/2005 1:36:29 PM PST by
vannrox
(The Preamble to the Bill of Rights - without it, our Bill of Rights is meaningless!)
To: vannrox; KevinDavis
Thanks, vannrox, for the ping.
Kevin, a ping list candidate?
37 posted on
02/24/2005 10:27:19 PM PST by
SunkenCiv
(last updated my FreeRepublic profile on Sunday, February 20, 2005.)
To: RightWhale; Brett66; xrp; gdc314; sionnsar; anymouse; RadioAstronomer; NonZeroSum; jimkress; ...
39 posted on
02/25/2005 6:44:17 AM PST by
KevinDavis
(Let the meek inherit the Earth, the rest of us will explore the stars!)
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