Putting some old Thunkthussp onto the problem, I concieved another type
of construction, that we could call a Lorrey Loop, if it hasn't already
been thought of yet by someone else. (besides, it would really truck
too!) ;)
Essentially, you have one station at geosynch, that is say a hundred
miles long, containing a main EM rail system, and an
accelerator/decellerator rail in parallel. On the opposite side of the
planet, you've got a ground station, with a similar EM setup.
Now imagine a big loop going all the way around the planet, with its
apogee at the geosynch station and perigee at the ground station. This
loop, seeing as how it will be traveling quite fast at perigee and slow
at apogee, would necessarily be actually simply a virtual path or
corridor for a continuous line of "cars", as if it were a solid loop it
would tear itself apart (solid orbital loops being quite impossible and
unstable).
The cars would, when reaching the geosynch station, be traveling at the
same velocity as the station, from which they can either dump their
load, accept a load, or be switched to the parallel system for
changeover to an accelerator for transition to higher orbit or
interplanetary trajectory.
To build this system, you'd want a high altitude equatorial area for the
ground station (Ecuador, Kenya?, maybe the Spine of PauPau New Guinea?)
Its a bit different from what I've seen in other concepts, which require
either towers or actual vertical linkage (!!!) the stress alone would
require materials at least a hundred times more structurally sound than
those known today. using linear motors and orbital mechanics from
geosynch to surface, a true sky hook could be possible.
For those who say ground based accelerators are impossible, I will
direct you to study up on the papers of the late Dr. Gerald Bull (known
as the father of the Supergun) who conclusively proved (on paper, and
would have proved in practice if that darn pesky Gulf War and the
Isreali assasins haddn't gotten in the way) that using conventional
materials and normal chemical artillery propellants, a gun could be
constructed that would be capable of placing materials in orbit, with
guns specifications similar to that quoted by HG Wells' old novel. If
such things can be accomplished with conventional 19th century
technology, certainly using 21st century superconductor technology we
could do even better.
TANSTAAFL!!!
Michael Lorrey
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President retroman@tpk.net
Northstar Technologies Agent Lorrey@ThePentagon.com
Inventor of the Lorrey Drive Silo_1013@ThePentagon.com
Website: http://www.tpk.net/~retroman/
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Transhumanist, Inventor, Webmaster, Ski Guide, Entrepreneur,
Artist, Outdoorsman, Libertarian, Certified Genius.
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If I saw further than others, it is because I had an
unjoggled view from standing on my own two feet.
- Mike Lorrey