Next evolutionary step?

JustMeKevin a few weeks ago mentioned the next evolutionary step when he entered this board and looked upon the things here from his professional roots in informatics. I myself assumed very cautiously Bradley C. Edwards' space elevator perhaps to be this step and added another concept to be found on the NIAC site which proposed to carry something off a plane by an orbital carrier diving into the atmosphere and catching the payload by a cable or so.

Some of the people he are considering Edwards' elevator a possible thing only in a far future others think that it is realisitc in the nearby future. In this discussion Herman desmedt and Mark Rejhon described detailed why it seems realistic to them in principle within decades from now.

When I asked if it is possible to make use of the plasma created at reentry by a magnetic field caused by electricity provided by cable down from an orbit portion of spacecraft spacecowboy answered that it might work and described that electricity might produced by a cable extended from a satellite outside into space and rotation of that satellite.

Taking all this together I realised that spacecowboys answer in principle describes a satellite providing a space elevator if the cable isn't used to produce electricity - something might be docked to or released from the end of the cable.

What velocities might be reached without hurting safety conditions?

My idea is that - assumed the satellite is orbiting by Mach28 - there is a portion of the circle at which a spacecraft will be catapulted in the opposite direction of the satellite. This will mean deceleration - what reduction of velocity is possible?

The angle of reentry may be controlled this way too.

For these purposes no nanocarbontubes seem to be required - is that right?

Might that work? If yes then based on the post of Herman Desmedt and Mark Rejhon it seems to be a way for private orbital spacecrafts - and it can save a lot of the deceleration propellant.



Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist)

i have no clue to the answer as i don't know enough to run the numbers, but if that would decelerate a ship, i guess the only question would be if the tension on the cable is too much for any known material, which is certainly possible, though i guess you could use something elastic.

First - who of the people talking at this board may answer the question of the tension on the cable?

Second - if deceleration is possible as described the next interesting question will be if something coming from the surface may dock to the cable and what conditions are to be fulfilled.

Who can answer "First"? Who "second"? Herman Desmedt and Mark Rejhon - what do you think?

What about the ideas?



Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist)