[ExI] Inflatable tower could climb to the edge of space
Damien Broderick
thespike at satx.rr.com
Tue Jun 9 03:09:43 UTC 2009
At 07:16 PM 6/8/2009 -0700, spike wrote:
> > I still don't see how you can light up a rocket engine at
> > the top (let alone the bottom) and not set the sucker on fire.
>
> > What am I missing?
>
>You would need release the rocket and have a cold gas thruster to push away
>slightly from the tower to eliminate damage upon ignition.
Aren't those birds held down when they're ignited, and only released
when they're already burning like crazy? Isn't the thing likely to
tumble if you wake it up in midair?
This method requires the whole craft to be hauled up to 20 or 30 or
100km, unless the tube is largely evacuated and it launches somehow
from the ground without setting everything alight. I suppose if you
drag it up empty and fuel it through pipes pumped by a monster motor
at the bottom...
Damien Broderick
More information about the extropy-chat
mailing list