[extropy-chat] FWD [forteana] Re: lunar elevator

[Terry W. Colvin]

On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 16:04:03 -0700,
"Terry W. Colvin" <fortean1 at mindspring.com> fwded:

>I'd been under the impression that a lunar elevator
>wouldn't work; it'd be too long or something.
>However I see another view at

>< http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/lunar_space_elevator.html >

<snip>

>Pearson is proposing that NASA launch a spacecraft
>carrying a huge spool of cable to the L1 point.
>It would slowly back away from the L1 point as it
>unspooled its cable down to the surface of the Moon.

<snip>

Terry may well be right in his impression that this wouldn't work, indeed *any*
space elevator would be subject to a number of fundamental problems. None of the
discussions I've read about space elevators addresses the problem of dealing
with Coriolis forces. The further any part of the elevator system (cables,
orbiting anchors, etc.) get away from the geostationary altitude, the more force
tangential to the orbital path is required to keep the system linear and stable.
The orbital velocity has to be reduced approaching the planet//moon and
increased in the opposite direction. You'd end up not with a perfectly straight
cable, but a curved one, in the manner of the curving waterfalls in AC Clarke's
Rendezvous with Rama.

Perhaps somebody with more maths than I have could explain if I've got the wrong
end of the stick (or lift cable), but space elevators do sound like a bit of a
non-starter to me.

Robin Hill, STEAMY BESS, Brough, East Yorkshire.


-- 
"Only a zit on the wart on the heinie of progress." Copyright 1992, Frank Rice


Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1 at mindspring.com >
     Alternate: < fortean1 at msn.com >
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