Sunday 20 October 2024

Someone Else Can Work Out The Space Elevator Idea

The idea of a Space Elevator always seemed like a good one to me and setting aside the engineering involved, pretty easy to set up or so you would think.
The issue is that the Earth spins at approximately 1,000 miles per hour so the target above the Earth must match this Speed and to maintain an orbit the satellite must orbit at a speed of approximately 7,000 mph
but then you have other factors such as height of the satellite, constant of Gravitation, Mass of the Planet, the rotational period of the planet and the radius of the planet.
Luckily there is an equation to solve for this h=√3(GMT2/4π2)-R which all means some smart-arse could work out how fast something needs to go and at what height, much like the communications satellites which follow the Earths rotation.
Over a century ago, a Russian scientist dreamed up the idea for a space elevator and his idea was a cable connecting Earth to space and Arthur C. Clarke updated it but had the same idea of a cable which would life the cargo to the platform.
Now physicists Leonardo Golubović and Steven Knudsen have drawn up plans which involve very long looped strings and a rotating platform (for some reason the rotation would improve it) and i assume they have gone through the whole h=√3(GMT2/4π2)-R thing and find it workable.
If it did work it would radically reduce the cost of space travel by transporting parts of lunar modules out of the Earth's Gravity which is the expensive part due to the fuel needed to leave the grip of Mother Earth but just don't ask me to work it all out, just seeing an equation with brackets and a π in it means i am regressed back to school and i have an urge to fake a period pain.