mmm@weitek.UUCP (Mark Thorson) (12/28/85)
With all the interest in skyhooks and tethers, I'm inspired to ask "How about a kite?" Is there enough gas streaming off the earth or the sun to catch in a kite? Of course, you'd have to attach the string to a point on the earth that doesn't move -- either the north pole or the south. Are there any obvious reasons this would be a dumb idea? I can see some advantages. If you had a rope into space, you'd have to CLIMB up it (unless it's HM's rotating skyhook). But the kite string would be tangent to the earth, hence you could WALK into space (its only a hundred miles to LEO, any good athlete should be able to make it in a few days). I can see some disadvantages for the ground crew. You're stuck at the north pole, for one. You spend the day watching the kite through the crosshairs of a scope. If it dips toward the equator you reel in the Kevlar cable, if it swings east to west you let some out. Worst duty in the navy (doesn't this sound like a navy operation). Mark Thorson (...!cae780!weitek!mmm)
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (01/02/86)
> With all the interest in skyhooks and tethers, I'm inspired to ask "How about > a kite?" Is there enough gas streaming off the earth or the sun to catch in > a kite? ... Alas, it won't work. There is little gas emission from Earth's atmosphere, and the solar wind is much too thin to be useful for this. -- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry
mmm@weitek.UUCP (Mark Thorson) (01/06/86)
Henry Spencer says the gases evaporating off the sun and earth are way too thin for the purpose of a space kite. How about the light from the sun itself? People have proposed using the light pressure to propel spacecaft. Of course, I could be talking about a BIG kite. There's plenty of room up there. That's why they call it space :-) Someone else said if you could build the kite, you should build the equatorial skyhook instead. I agree, but the skyhook won't have a low synchronous orbit over the pole. You might want to hang the SDI from it. If you can do both, you just might want to. Mark Thorson (...!cae780!weitek!mmm)
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (01/10/86)
> ...the gases evaporating off the sun and > earth are way too thin for the purpose of a space kite. > How about the light from the sun itself? People > have proposed using the light pressure to propel > spacecaft. Of course, I could be talking about a BIG > kite... You can do it with light, but your kite will be %$#$%@#* HUGE! A lightsail ten kilometers across generates only a few pounds of thrust. Holding up a realistic tether (one that will withstand storms in the atmosphere, and carry a useful load) will need a truly enormous area. -- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry