Talk:Launch loop
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The Description section is somewhat unclear, as it in the second paragraph starts talking about the vacuum sheath without actually telling how this is incorporated in the whole structure. Could someone who has better knowledge about the subject try to clarify this? OttoMäkelä (talk) 20:39, 30 December 2007 (UTC)
[edit] unclear article
'ts not clear how this works. Is just a spinning rope, or is it working as a magnetic realgun ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.217.143.153 (talk) 23:09, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
- It's not really exactly either. The moving metal rotor when dragged past a magnet generates huge eddy currents that pulls the magnet along after the rotor.- (User) WolfKeeper (Talk) 01:45, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] A few questions
Is the design limited inherently to 5 metric ton payloads, or is it possible to increase that size? The article says that the launch loop is, in and of itself, able to reach LEO, escape orbits, GEO, and others.
I understand how this would be possible with a "kick-start" booster on the payloads, but how is the launch loop capable of this "in and of itself"? It seems to me that at the given 3g acceleration, at the end of a 2000km long track an object would be traveling at about 10.5 km/s. If memory serves me that's not quite escape velocity on its own. I'm rusty on my physics, so that could be a wrong number. I might add at this point that by training I am not a physicist or engineer, although I feel that I can understand the concepts if pointed to the appropriate articles and given time.
- I made it 10.8 km/s. The other thing is that the rotation speed of the earth is ~500m/s, which gets you there near enough. But making the track a bit longer or pushing the acceleration up by a few percent is not a big deal. Neither is a small kick rocket to make up the difference.- (User) WolfKeeper (Talk) 18:15, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
How exactly does it radiate excess heat? Through the casing when it enters the ocean at the ends?
- Just radiation through to the casing which then it turn radiates as well.- (User) WolfKeeper (Talk) 18:15, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
What sort of materials / engineering is required to lift something 80km to hop on the track?
How does something detach from it at the end? Rockets, some sort of lifting body design, the fact that the loop drops off, magnetic forces, or some combination?
- It just detaches and the cable curves away as it follows the horizon.- (User) WolfKeeper (Talk) 18:15, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
Finally, I know this question might be harder to answer, but how do the $/kg numbers change if the launch loop isn't used to capacity? I suppose this would be easy to calculate if the power to run it didn't vary much if it was being used to launch all the time as opposed to running without a load, but I doubt this is the case.
- Roughly inversely proportional. Most of the cost is in loans for construction and so forth, although there are some fixed running cost in electricity.18:15, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
Sorry if these questions are uninformed or anything, and if anyone can answer them I'd be appreciative. 67.142.130.19 (talk) 17:29, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
PS: How exactly is the rotor envisioned to be constructed? Is it a monolithic, bendable, iron "pipe" or segmented with some sort of joint every few meters? 72.171.0.139 (talk) 01:06, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
- It's probably not a solid pipe, the stake in the ground seems to be a joint every few meters. The exact details vary between the different published papers (which isn't surprising since they're 20 years apart!)- there's different ways to implement the concept described in the article.- (User) WolfKeeper (Talk) 15:02, 29 May 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, that made it a lot clearer for me (along with some reading I did on other articles). I wonder why a traditional space elevator is the focus of all the buzz and research when this concept is more plausible, buildable, and is economically cheaper? 72.171.0.139 (talk) 01:02, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
