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Using Sling Shot Power to Hurl Into Orbit
the_2nd_coming writes "space.com has an article
about a new application of a very old technology.
NASA is putting money into Momentum-eXchange/Electrodynamic Reboost tether technology -- MXER for short -- an innovative concept that if implemented would station miles and miles of cart-wheeling cable in orbit around the Earth. Then, rotating like a giant sling, the cable would swoop down and pick up spacecraft in low orbits, then hurl them to higher orbits or even lob them onward to other planets."
The key scientists behind this project are Dr. Bartholemew J. Simpson and Dr. Dennis "The Menace" Mitchell.
Mike
Dennis the Mennis apparently grew up and got a job at NASA!
Swoop down and clobber spacecraft in lower orbits, smashing them into tiny pieces that could go one to clobber other spacecraft. Or perhaps larger pieces that re enter in fiery displays of wasted millions.
Or it might work. That'd be something.
I once used sling shot power to hurl little rocks at my neighbor's cat. Used the middle finger from a rubber kitchen glove, a cut-apart 2-liter soda bottle, and a pipe clamp.
If they built one of those in space, they'd be able to scare the shit out of my neighbor's cat.
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
In SOVIET RUSSIA, the slingshots fire you.
Alien species put up huge fences to keep us outside of their garden, and now we're going to be shooting stuff at them...
[Dennis the Menace]
Hey Mr. Freeeblgwaaxx!1
[/Dennis]
Black and grey are both shades of white.
"the ultimate dos-Ã-dos swing machine."
I know the caption says it uses old technology- but I'm not trusting my space flight to something that runs on DOS.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
"It's sort-of like a one-hundred kilometer long fish-net stocking in space, only it's incredibly strong, and it can withstand many years of bombardment by orbital debris," Hoyt said
Say, if they make these smaller, maybe I won't have to keep buying pantyhose for my girlfriend!
This is the real signature
(Beats those shadows on the cave wall, don't it?)
I don't think I would enjoy getting smacked upside the spacecraft by a cable going 25,000 MPH faster than me.
Can anyone say whiplash?
When probes from outer space attack the earth, we can use the slingshot to go back in time to retrieve the exact species of whale they're trying to contact!
Slingshots never worked out very well for the Coyote. Doesn't anyone pay attention to the great value of cartoons? Sheesh... how many boulders must fall on the heads of coyotes before someone gets it?
On the other hand, rockets never worked for the Coyote either... maybe NASA is on to something! Is it possible... could cartoons be... unrealistic? Noooooo!
"you've got your ass in a sling now!"
Won't using the earth's rotational momentum like that take energy from the earth to give to the spaceship? Hell, after a couple hundred thousand launches our days might be an hour longer. THIS IS PREPOSTEROUS!
Gives new meaning to "Projectile Vomiting".
Heh. Alright, I'll go away now.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
... "sling" != "slingshot". They're two completely different things. Conflating the two is kind of like calling a canvas-sided trailer with some rusty tanks and piping a "weapon of mass destruction."
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
IAALS.
Easy. Launch another sling above it...
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
Chill out man, I'm just trying to make some karma same as everybody else.
This thing doesn't happen to say 'ACME' on the side, does it?
Heat things with a giant magnifying lens until the object smokes or pops. Nope
Shoot bb guns at stop signs (not lights). Nope
Slingshots...that's taken.
Blow darts with straws and paper...hmmm, yes, giant air pressure pipe to launch space capsules into orbit.
Anyone know a good modernized implementation of pouring salt on snails?
Don't these guys know anything about thermodynamics?!
By launching a ship in this fashion, they will be STEALING momentum from the earth's rotation, degrading the planet's equilibrium and ultimately destroying the orbit and sending us to a firey death in the sun!
This is obviously a "plan B" coming from those same wackos who want to send the moon crashing into earth by harnessing the energy in the tides.
>>And, in fact, Tethers Unlimited, the company proposing this beast,
Damn. I read that at Titties Unlimited, the company proposing the breast,
I really, really need to get some lovin. Soon.
I'd give a link to the correct Dilbert strip, but don't have time to find it before I go to work.
A sling shot is not the same as a sling....A sling uses the sudden stop of centripedal force.
Shut up! You are ruining our jokes, Bastard!
Table-ized A.I.
A giant space trebuchet.
Let the siege of Mars begin!
This thing is going to transfer momentum to the space craft it is boosting, right? Where is it getting it from? Something has to get that cable spinning,
A giant U-shaped magnet from ACME, of course.
Table-ized A.I.
Swing low, sweet NASA slingshot,
Comin' for to launch me to Mars;
Swing low, sweet NASA slingshot,
Comin' for to launch me to Mars.
I looked over low orbit,
And WHAT did I see,
Comin' for to launch me to Mars,
A band of "Hoytether" comin' after me,
Comin' for to launch me to Mars.
Swing low, sweet NASA slingshot,
Comin' for to launch me to Mars;
Swing low, sweet NASA slingshot,
Comin' for to launch me to Mars.
If you get there before I do,
Comin' for to launch me to Mars,
Tell all my friends I'm being slung too,
Comin' for to launch me to Mars.
There's no wrong way, to eat a Rhesus...
Goliath's future relative in Houston walks outside to pick up the morning paper, and SWWWOOOOCK!!!
Table-ized A.I.
WOW!
Wasn't this theory widely in use by a certain coyote?
If memory serves (which it usually does just for someone else) he used the rubber bands first and rockets second, we seem to be at odds with the Acme Lab theories on propulsion.
Everything you need to know you learned from Looney Toons (even that crossdressing habit you try to hide)
"You plastered your Teather System across my Space Elevator!"
"You got your Space Elevator caught in my Teather System!"
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
I believe this is the same thing that Wyle E Coyote tried to catch the roadrunner. Hopefully NASA will get better contractors than ACME
Nasa is back to working on space stuff? I thought they gave it up to focus their energy on mattresses?
Has Ron Toms at Trebuchet.com been awarded a NASA contract?