Launch Loop
Its construction costs are lower, its launch capacity is greater, its per-payload costs are lower, and its feasibility is greater (i.e., non-zero as of now) compared to a space elevator...so why have I never heard of a Launch Loop (or Lofstrom Loop) until today? I guess I know now how I'll be spending my time this weekend: I'll be building one of these things in my basement.
I will need to be careful:
A running loop would have a stupendous amount of energy. While the magnetic suspension system would be highly redundant, with failures of small sections having essentially no effect at all; if a major failure did occur the energy in the loop [...] would be approaching the same scale of energy release as a small nuclear bomb explosion (350 kilotons of TNT equivalent).
Labels: sci-fi
Umie the Umlaut says, "ask your doctor about the Fredösphere!"
1 Comments:
Launch loops don't scale down very well, a small one probably wouldn't be very dangerous; the rim speed would only be a few hundred kilometers per hour, and wouldn't be able to launch anything very much.
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