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There will be on near future capability to create extreme large but lightweight structures to build things really big.
http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/02/nasa-n … te-on.html
A mass driver from Earth to Mars will be possible with limited mass. Perhaps a ratio 5:1 with launch spaceship will be possible.
The mass driver between GEO and LEO, enough far from LEO to avoid that each launch change its orbits too much to go inside Earth atmosphere. Later, using efficient ion propulsion, the mass driver recovers the original orbit.
The spaceship will need propulsion in any case. For transfer corrections and to slow down the speed to avoid the need of very high speed reentry on Mars.
Because the launch could be high speed, ion propulsion could be used for the spaceship too.
Advantages.
Near as fast as pure chemical.
Faster than pure ion.
Near as efficient as ion propulsion.
More reusing infrastructure.
Disadvantages.
Orbit align is difficult for reuse... or more fuel will be needed losing the advantage.
No experience with this kind of technology. Unknown problems.
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So mass drivers have been talked about since the 1970s, why hasn't NASA built any? If they were simply impossible, then why did O'Neill mention them?
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Spaniard has been active in the forum recently (in 2024) so I decided to ask FluxBB if Spaniard had created any topics.
This is an interesting speculative topic, to which Tom Kalbfus replied.
From the vantage point of 2024, I think we can conclude that mass drivers ** are ** extremely difficult to build beyond the laboratory demonstration that O'Neill's students showed at Princeton in the 1980's. The longest mass driver of any significance in 2024 is the aircraft launch catapults built into the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier.
Based upon proven performance to date, i conclude that a structure such as envisioned by Spaniard in 2015 was and remains speculative.
Physics appears to support the concept .... it is engineering that is challenged to produce a working system.
Collapsing stars (and black holes) appear to be able to create mass drivers of some size. It appears that rotational energy of collapsing matter is able to produce jets of energy and particles that are squeezed out of the collapsing mass in narrow jets.
(th)
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I also want Spaniards thoughts.
I have pondered something that can have a similar effect. A tether system to do spin launches from such an orbit as he suggested. The spin would come from Electric Rockets.
I have seen evidence of patents that have a sort of slide method to launch objects from a spin launch system. This might accommodate humans.
The use of solar power may be acceptable as the solar power plant does not get launched, instead it is a sort of platform to launch payloads from.
In this device, energy is stored in spin inertia, rather than capacitors as in a mass driver.
Done
Last edited by Void (2024-04-03 10:50:00)
Is it possible that the root of political science claims is to produce white collar jobs for people who paid for an education and do not want a real job?
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"There will be on near future capability to create extreme large but lightweight structures to build things really big."
This always makes me think of 3d printing.
How a 3d printer can make materials in a completely different fashion than how we normally make them.
Each and every dot inside the material can be programmed.
We can control precisely how the material is built.
Meaning we can actually leave holes inside a material,
making it lighter.
We could make aluminium, 90% density.
10% of it is holes.
And we could, have artifical intelligence decide where to place those holes.
To maximize the lightening by leaving as many empty spots as possible,
while at the same time, minimize the decrease in strength.
If thats whats needed at that time.
It could also do wonders for planes.
If we could figure out precisely, how much strenght each part of the plane actually needs.
And only have that.
Just whenever you want to make things lighter.
And save on material.
A friend of mine was telling me about this 20 years ago.
Seems not much has happened in this since then.
A piece of aluminium.
Which is just, 50% actually there.
50% the weight but i would guess it would have more than 50% of the strength.
And precisely where its best to leave the holes, can be a field of its own.
Maybe we could be printing pieces of material this way,
with much better numbers.
And it also allows for,
mixing materials together in whatever way we like.
With god knows what results.
Its never been possible before so its probably never been studied.
Then ultimately if we could print each atom.
On an atomic scale control precisely where each atom should be.
Like, how could we improve those numbers for our materials.
And what consequences could that have for everything we are building.
Last edited by offtherock (2025-08-30 13:59:11)
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