5 ms·
Not to mention the acceleration needed to achieve orbital velocity with a catapult. Seems like insanely high forces on the payload. I’d love to see how they sol
by rmcpherson 9y ago
Not to mention the acceleration needed to achieve orbital velocity with a catapult. Seems like insanely high forces on the payload. I’d love to see how they solve this.
- pesmhey 9y agoIt’s a centrifuge, so the acceleration could be low enough to not cause damage to the payload.
- JoeAltmaier 9y agoSimply spinning is acceleration. Every been on a fast playground merry-go-round?
- pesmhey 9y agoYeah, you’re right! Wonder how they handle it then.
- JoeAltmaier 9y agoYou could embed the electronics in a resin - acceleration of a solid block would have fewer shear stresses inside the block.
- simooooo 9y agoSounds heavy
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- ecpottinger 9y agoNo it is not. Calculate the outward force of a centrifuge with 300 foot radius with a speed of 3000 MPH at the edge and you get a force of 2000G! Check your own numbers at: http://www.calctool.org/CALC/phys/newtonian/centrifugal http://www.calctool.org/CALC/phys/newtonian/centrifugal
- maxxxxx 9y agoAt around 50km radius you get 3g. That would be a pretty big centrifuge! Humans will probably never use this but maybe some types of satellites can handle the load.
- mhandley 9y agoYes, the centripetal acceleration only starts to get reasonable (ie less than 10g) with a 20km radius centrifuge. The only practical way to do that would be an evacuated circular tunnel equipped with a maglev. Maybe that's their solution?
- oh_sigh 9y agoThat's starting to sound like a hyperloop now
- justinpombrio 9y ago> Yes, the centripetal acceleration only starts to get reasonable (ie less than 10g) That's reasonable _for humans_. No one's going to launch a human by this thing, though, I hope.
- aventrix 9y agoNevermind that 3,000 MPH is entirely too slow.