Hans.Moravec@ROVER.RI.CMU.EDU (12/23/85)
The following key paragraph was inadvertently omitted from yesterday's post. It should be inserted in the second paper just in front of the paragraph beginning "In very high orbits the forces ...". Sorry about having to omit the figure. ------------------------- (6) introduced the concept of a non-synchronous skyhook. Figure 1 illustrates the idea. A satellite in low circular orbit is elongated enough to just touch the surface in certain positions. It spins so that, like a rolling wheel, its rotation cancels its tangential velocity during the contacts with the surface. Such a structure can be constructed to orbit at any height, and a synchronous skyhook is a special case.