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I've an idea. What about placing powerful magnetic rings in space that accelerate the craft towards them and switch off just as the craft is about to hit, allowing the ship to be guided through the ring.
"I'm gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy." - If this forum was a Mars Colony
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I've an idea. What about placing powerful magnetic rings in space that accelerate the craft towards them and switch off just as the craft is about to hit, allowing the ship to be guided through the ring.
the ring would move then as it was grabbing and trying to move the ship.
try doing that under water and you will see what i mean... its a good idea but we need to figure something out with it.
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Like tagging it onto a planet or something similar (the moon) as a sort of Assisted Gravitational Assist?
"I'm gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy." - If this forum was a Mars Colony
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Like tagging it onto a planet or something similar (the moon) as a sort of Assisted Gravitational Assist?
if anything i think it would work better to launch things too or from locations like that... like any type of probe or supplies or something...
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The use of a magnetic drive has been postulated for a form of space tug.
The idea is that a craft deploys a magnetic tether that reacts against the magnetic field of the Earth or similar and will be pushed away. So a craft can lift loads up from LEO to GEO orbit or if by changing the polarity able to pull out of orbit a disused satelite.
But the process is slow and though very cheap as space drives go is not one that makes sense for manned missions.
[url=http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/technovel_tether_041109.html]Electrodynamic Tethers: Getting into the Swing
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An old article but worth reading.
Chan eil mi aig a bheil ùidh ann an gleidheadh an status quo; Tha mi airson cur às e.
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That isn't what I have in mind. What I am thinking of is a ring that pulls the craft towards it accelerating them and then turns off, releasing the craft.
"I'm gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy." - If this forum was a Mars Colony
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That isn't what I have in mind. What I am thinking of is a ring that pulls the craft towards it accelerating them and then turns off, releasing the craft.
assuming the ring would have enough power to repel the earths field (effectively) with out drawing any type of metalic/iron particles at it high speed then dealing with launching something. it would be a great idea... i seriously really do like it just I think the scale would need to be imense to be able to take care of something like that.
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I've an idea. What about placing powerful magnetic rings in space that accelerate the craft towards them and switch off just as the craft is about to hit, allowing the ship to be guided through the ring.
This idea has been around for quite some time. It is commonly called a 'mass driver'. Other names include 'linear electric motor' or 'rail gun'.
A mass driver could be used to accelerate a space craft (as a projectile) to extremely high velocities. It would not need to be attached to a planet in order to work. However, given that momentum is always conserved, it would experience recoil and would need to expend energy and propellant to maintain its position in space each time it discharged.
Alternatively, by attaching a mass driver to a space craft, it can be used as an 'electric' rocket engine, using virtually any material as propellant, including ground up lunar/asteroid rocks, or waste produced on the spacecraft. The electricity required to power the device could come from solar cells or a nuclear reactor.
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I was viewing the SSI website, they mentioned that they got their mass driver Model III down to 160 feet and that it could throw lunar material at the Lunar escape velocity. 160 feet doesn't seem that big, could we possibly build something like this along with the Moonbase were planning to build? I wonder if it might be possible to implement a part of O'Neill's plan, that is basically collecting Lunar rocks at L4 or L5. In any event, it certianly is a more efficient means of collecting Lunar rocks that stuffing them all abord the Lunar Lander and transfering them to the Orion spacecraft in Lunar orbit when the two craft dock.
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I was viewing the SSI website, they mentioned that they got their mass driver Model III down to 160 feet and that it could throw lunar material at the Lunar escape velocity. 160 feet doesn't seem that big, could we possibly build something like this along with the Moonbase were planning to build? I wonder if it might be possible to implement a part of O'Neill's plan, that is basically collecting Lunar rocks at L4 or L5. In any event, it certianly is a more efficient means of collecting Lunar rocks that stuffing them all abord the Lunar Lander and transfering them to the Orion spacecraft in Lunar orbit when the two craft dock.
I was waiting for them to want to impliment something like that too... not like its expensive to do and not like its all that hard to do either...
as soon as we get a base setup out there the games are on, its SO easy to start doing stuff in space, from building bases to makine new space craft...
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I was viewing the SSI website, they mentioned that they got their mass driver Model III down to 160 feet and that it could throw lunar material at the Lunar escape velocity. 160 feet doesn't seem that big, could we possibly build something like this along with the Moonbase were planning to build? I wonder if it might be possible to implement a part of O'Neill's plan, that is basically collecting Lunar rocks at L4 or L5. In any event, it certianly is a more efficient means of collecting Lunar rocks that stuffing them all abord the Lunar Lander and transfering them to the Orion spacecraft in Lunar orbit when the two craft dock.
I was waiting for them to want to impliment something like that too... not like its expensive to do and not like its all that hard to do either...
as soon as we get a base setup out there the games are on, its SO easy to start doing stuff in space, from building bases to makine new space craft...
I wouldn't be so sure. The cost of the orbital infrastructure needed to collect and process these ores into anything useful is likley to run into hundreds of billions. You get better value for money only if the scale of your programme justifies the investment.
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I was viewing the SSI website, they mentioned that they got their mass driver Model III down to 160 feet and that it could throw lunar material at the Lunar escape velocity. 160 feet doesn't seem that big, could we possibly build something like this along with the Moonbase were planning to build? I wonder if it might be possible to implement a part of O'Neill's plan, that is basically collecting Lunar rocks at L4 or L5. In any event, it certianly is a more efficient means of collecting Lunar rocks that stuffing them all abord the Lunar Lander and transfering them to the Orion spacecraft in Lunar orbit when the two craft dock.
I was waiting for them to want to impliment something like that too... not like its expensive to do and not like its all that hard to do either...
as soon as we get a base setup out there the games are on, its SO easy to start doing stuff in space, from building bases to makine new space craft...
I wouldn't be so sure. The cost of the orbital infrastructure needed to collect and process these ores into anything useful is likley to run into hundreds of billions. You get better value for money only if the scale of your programme justifies the investment.
the thing about space investment is that its long term investment not short term. the trick is... add in some short term investment inbetween the folds and you should be able to make some money then making it profitable.
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A mass driver is only a small piece of the puzzle. I think the Moon would be a good place to test such a device. If the ore can't be processed, it can at least be used as reaction mass for asteroid missions. I think we need to do some ore processing however. We are not going to stay in the infancy of the space age forever, yet too many people act as if we are. I think the high price of oil may help. There was an article in Space.com about how Solar Power Satellites would be useful in powering Military installations. I'd say find a nitch for SPS's construct them in orbit, and then try to improve them using local materials utilization. Some advances have been made in light weight Solar panels recently. Lets try to build one, see how that goes. Another use would be to power a Mars Base. If we can place an SPS in Mars orbit, it can provide 24 hour power to a Mars base both day and night. Sure beats nukes, I mean what are you going to do with the radioactive waste? SPSs are much safer.
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A mass driver is only a small piece of the puzzle. I think the Moon would be a good place to test such a device. If the ore can't be processed, it can at least be used as reaction mass for asteroid missions. I think we need to do some ore processing however. We are not going to stay in the infancy of the space age forever, yet too many people act as if we are. I think the high price of oil may help. There was an article in Space.com about how Solar Power Satellites would be useful in powering Military installations. I'd say find a nitch for SPS's construct them in orbit, and then try to improve them using local materials utilization. Some advances have been made in light weight Solar panels recently. Lets try to build one, see how that goes. Another use would be to power a Mars Base. If we can place an SPS in Mars orbit, it can provide 24 hour power to a Mars base both day and night. Sure beats nukes, I mean what are you going to do with the radioactive waste? SPSs are much safer.
there are other ways to power places with out even needing sun or anything else complicated also. heck they could do it solely based on waste products... like for example methane and burning it... they have 100's of ways of having renewable energy pretty easily. just a matter of being a bit injinuitive and actually doing it.
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Methane does not burn in space.
Most methane burned on Earth comes from underground, and it is a nasty greenhouse gas.
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Methane does not burn in space.
Most methane burned on Earth comes from underground, and it is a nasty greenhouse gas.
you dont need to burn it.. you can use it as propellant and what does it matter using a greenhouse gas on mars? a small settlment on a planet of about 10 people tops isn't going to make all that large of a difference...
its like saying a small group of eskimos in the north pole region are causing a global problem.... just not gonna happen.
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What, mars might heat up if we use methane. That's a good thing.
"I'm gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy." - If this forum was a Mars Colony
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Building a little on terraformer's initial idea, here's a thought:
Not magnetic acceleration rings in space, but in the atmosphere.
Have n balloons at altitude y, spread out in an equidistant ring of radius r.
Repeat formation at altitude y+1, y+2, y+3, y+4, ... , until max altitude of balloons.
Each balloon ring generates an electric field to push projectiles upwards towards the center of the next higher ring.
In effect, a mass driver without a tube, and with a 30km launch "rail".
Is a tube or a rail needed, or could you construct a pseudo mass driver like this, with empty air as the acceleration track?
Unfortunately, even if this would be feasible, it still wouldn't be enough for humans, as a 30km launch track would still require 200g of acceleration to reach escape velocity at the end of it. Unless you wanted a hybrid launch, continuing with rockets once ejecting out of the balloon tunnel.
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Hybrid launches are good. I was suggesing one of another type (balloon/rocket) and another (balloon/mass driver/rocket).
"I'm gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy." - If this forum was a Mars Colony
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