Earlier quoted context omitted.
How many G is a drop on concrete?
1, I guess.
No, the deceleration on hitting the ground is a lot more than 1g.
SpinLaunch is building a centrifuge to launch satellites into orbit
141–150 of 152 posts
Re: SpinLaunch is building a centrifuge to launch satellites into orbit
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks, this is what I was looking for. I didn't want to dismiss them fast, but it did sound like the founders don't know what they're up to. Maybe they figured out some advanced materials science we don't know about, but that seems unlikely from this article. > Over the next few years, the team ran hundreds of high-speed tests. Most of them were to study and improve the system, but some were to mollify skeptical inv…
How many G is a drop on concrete?
https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/173307 can be helpful to finding this out.
Re: SpinLaunch is building a centrifuge to launch satellites into orbit
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, SpinLaunch on Moon launching ore concentrates. No housing needed, g-forces irrelevant; gravity well is smaller. Obligatory link, "Moon is a Harsh Mistress", by Heinlein: https://archive.org/details/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress_201701
I loved Heinlein as a kid... I wonder how many geeks today realize he's the origin of the term 'grok' ?
A lot? It's not that big a secret, if the question ever occurs to you. I've known for a while and haven't even read the book.
Re: SpinLaunch is building a centrifuge to launch satellites into orbit
#144Re: SpinLaunch is building a centrifuge to launch satellites into orbit
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because the physics actually works.
Really? What will they use to build the legs to support it?
Those aren't legs, they're guy wires.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Launch_loop
I said the physics works. The engineering is a totally different question.
Re: SpinLaunch is building a centrifuge to launch satellites into orbit
#146[deleted]
Re: SpinLaunch is building a centrifuge to launch satellites into orbit
#147Does the rocket somehow counter the spin of the tether? If it's rigidly attached to the tether, I don't understand how it would stop spinning after being released. The rocket itself would spin very quickly, and due to conservation of angular momentum it would keep spinning upon release. Am I missing something?
Or do they somehow counter the spinning of the tether, so that the rocket's orientation remains static? If there's another bearing at the attachment point, I don't see how just the outer bearing would withstand the friction at 10000g.
Re: SpinLaunch is building a centrifuge to launch satellites into orbit
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
Liquid back stop? Ballistic jello?
500MJ is enough energy to flash-boil 200Kg of water, so that might work. Would be a sizeable steam explosion, as the 330 or so cubic meters of instantaneously created steam tries to go somewhere, and an interesting pressure wave in the water tank.
"interesting" -- the concussive overpressure would be brutal in water and travel further I guess, maybe you could add a bubble stream to the water like in dives to diffuse the shockwave some.
Re: SpinLaunch is building a centrifuge to launch satellites into orbit
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
Really? What will they use to build the legs to support it?
Those aren't legs, they're guy wires. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Launch_loop I said the physics works. The engineering is a totally different question.
"I said the physics works. The engineering is a totally different question."
So if the engineering is questionable or unrealistic, how is it less fanciful?
Re: SpinLaunch is building a centrifuge to launch satellites into orbit
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those aren't legs, they're guy wires. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Launch_loop I said the physics works. The engineering is a totally different question.
"I said the physics works. The engineering is a totally different question." So if the engineering is questionable or unrealistic, how is it less fanciful?
In 50 years or 100 years, there might be a launch loop. There will never be a launch centrifuge, not in 50 or 100 or 1000. Fluid dynamics simply don't allow objects to move that fast at ground level.
0.000000000001 > 0