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You mean like this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped-storage_hydroelectricity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped-storage_hydroelectricit...

• jessaustin 10y ago
  It's not obvious how a "space catapult" could be built from that...
  • rusk 10y ago
    LOL I'm not sure it's obvious how a space-catapult could be built at all .. I'm pretty sure some Darwin nominee would have tried it by now if so /s Come to think of it - the "obvious" flaw to this whole scheme is the need to store enough energy gravitationally and then release it such that it projects something beyond earth's gravitational pull. Strikes me as a non-trivial engineering problem ...
    • Filligree 10y ago
      It's nontrivial, but eventually doable. We'll get there if we want to. No, the bigger problem is the atmosphere. It'll have to go.
    • jlebrech 10y ago
      no need for Darwin nominees, only send equipment via mass drivers.
• marcosdumay 10y ago
  Probably this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_fountain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_fountain
  • rusk 10y ago
    That is very cool, thanks. I don't think it could be used for energy storage though. Its major disadvantages come about from the fact that it is an extremely-high-energy active structure. It requires constant power input to make up energy losses and remain erect.
    • marcosdumay 10y ago
      Wikipedia used to have a much more elaborated explanation on them. A superconductive structure with evacuated rails wouldn't need energy to stay in place (always in theory - one would certainly need something active). An electromagnetic one will use a lot of power, but still much less than the amount stored. Sill, it's not something simple that one could deploy today.