Fun video, but I don't think skyhooks are quite as useful as they let on, at least not on Earth. Without access to non-rocket launch systems, skyhooks are just a complicated way of getting...
Fun video, but I don't think skyhooks are quite as useful as they let on, at least not on Earth. Without access to non-rocket launch systems, skyhooks are just a complicated way of getting momentum from a rocket, and with them, they're likely redundant. Unless this thing is so massive that you'd have been better off using that mass to build an orbital ring, the launch capacity you're going to get from regenerating the tether's momentum with an ion engine, solar sail, or by pushing against earth's magnetosphere (as has also been proposed) is going to be piddly compared to that of a rapidly reusable first stage booster, which seems much more practical.
The mentioned trick of using incoming ships to launch outgoing ones works, but that's of somewhat limited value when incoming traffic to Earth is going to be utterly dwarfed by outgoing traffic for at least several centuries. That would make these things more useful to early planetary colonies with a reversed situation, but while skyhooks are helpful, Mars and the Moon aren't exactly hard to launch from conventionally, or using logistically simpler non-rocket systems, like railguns. By the time Earth's inbound freight numbers are sufficient to support significant skyhook launch capacity, you'd expect there to be at least one orbital ring, which can do everything a skyhook can do, but better, along with about a million other things besides.
After watching this, I can't help but being even more bitter that NASA et al. decided that LOP-G is the project we must pursue in the future. LOP-G is such a disappointing concept, compared to...
After watching this, I can't help but being even more bitter
that NASA et al. decided that LOP-G is the project we must pursue in the
future. LOP-G is such a disappointing concept, compared to something
like a Sky Hook or lunar bases.
Fun video, but I don't think skyhooks are quite as useful as they let on, at least not on Earth. Without access to non-rocket launch systems, skyhooks are just a complicated way of getting momentum from a rocket, and with them, they're likely redundant. Unless this thing is so massive that you'd have been better off using that mass to build an orbital ring, the launch capacity you're going to get from regenerating the tether's momentum with an ion engine, solar sail, or by pushing against earth's magnetosphere (as has also been proposed) is going to be piddly compared to that of a rapidly reusable first stage booster, which seems much more practical.
The mentioned trick of using incoming ships to launch outgoing ones works, but that's of somewhat limited value when incoming traffic to Earth is going to be utterly dwarfed by outgoing traffic for at least several centuries. That would make these things more useful to early planetary colonies with a reversed situation, but while skyhooks are helpful, Mars and the Moon aren't exactly hard to launch from conventionally, or using logistically simpler non-rocket systems, like railguns. By the time Earth's inbound freight numbers are sufficient to support significant skyhook launch capacity, you'd expect there to be at least one orbital ring, which can do everything a skyhook can do, but better, along with about a million other things besides.
After watching this, I can't help but being even more bitter that NASA et al. decided that LOP-G is the project we must pursue in the future. LOP-G is such a disappointing concept, compared to something like a Sky Hook or lunar bases.