Magnetically levitated space elevator to low-earth orbit (2001) [pdf]
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Magnetically levitated space elevator to low-earth orbit (2001) [pdf]
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Re: Magnetically levitated space elevator to low-earth orbit (2001) [pdf]
#2Cooling a 200km loop with liquid helium sounds more than moderately difficult!
Neat idea but not particularly possible given current material science as always seems to be the case with space elevators.
Re: Magnetically levitated space elevator to low-earth orbit (2001) [pdf]
#3Cooling a 200km loop with liquid helium sounds more than moderately difficult! Neat idea but not particularly possible given current material science as always seems to be the case with space elevators.
How cold would the pipe be in space if it was shaded? Wouldnt that cut the energy needed by a bit?
Re: Magnetically levitated space elevator to low-earth orbit (2001) [pdf]
#4(2001). I'm curious what has changed in this space since then.
Re: Magnetically levitated space elevator to low-earth orbit (2001) [pdf]
#5How is this different from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Launch_loop ?
Re: Magnetically levitated space elevator to low-earth orbit (2001) [pdf]
#6[deleted]
Re: Magnetically levitated space elevator to low-earth orbit (2001) [pdf]
#7Cooling a 200km loop with liquid helium sounds more than moderately difficult! Neat idea but not particularly possible given current material science as always seems to be the case with space elevators.
How cold would the pipe be in space if it was shaded? Wouldnt that cut the energy needed by a bit?
It's more or less impossible to shade a space elevator because the (hot, radiant) earth spans a full hemisphere of its field of view and the sun wanders most of the opposite one.
No way to passively reach cryogenic temperatures—let alone the deep-cryogenic ones demanded by high current-density superconductors.
Re: Magnetically levitated space elevator to low-earth orbit (2001) [pdf]
#8How is this different from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Launch_loop ?
There's no dynamic exchange of forces between moving objects on this one, just some current flowing through wires.
Re: Magnetically levitated space elevator to low-earth orbit (2001) [pdf]
#9How is this different from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Launch_loop ?
The Launch loop uses the momentum of a rotating cable to keep the system up. This space elevator uses super conducting magnets to levitate against the earths magnetic field.
It's like a gyroscopic force versus an electromagnet: they're both forces, but one is caused by mechanical movement versus the other which is caused by magnet fields.
Re: Magnetically levitated space elevator to low-earth orbit (2001) [pdf]
#10How is this different from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Launch_loop ?
This is supported by long-range magnetic pressure over the entire structure, with some (but not all) of that pressure coming from Earth's own field, and has no moving parts (other than the charge carriers).
A launch loop could be short-range magnetic or electric pressure between the cable and the sheath, Earth's field is not important and it would also work on a body with no magnetic field, and it mostly functions by being a very big moving part surrounded by a vacuum chamber.