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It’s surprising how many ways there are to get things into space. Everyone seems to assume we’ve already considered all alternatives and rockets are all we have
by mrfusion 8y ago
It’s surprising how many ways there are to get things into space. Everyone seems to assume we’ve already considered all alternatives and rockets are all we have.
Off the top of my head:
Providing laser power from the ground station
Giant rail gun
Launch fountain
Launch loop
Space elevator
Sky hook
This spin machine
- JoeAltmaier 8y agoMy favorite: build them there. Or on the Moon etc.
- astrodust 8y agoThe amount of raw material in space is utterly ridiculous. The most boring, irrelevant asteroid probably has more usable raw material in it than the largest mines on Earth.
- WrtCdEvrydy 8y agoRobotic mining company.
- noir_lord 8y agoBeen a trope in scifi for a long time, I remember reading about automated mining systems in a scifi novel back in the 80's. It refined pure metals and then blew gas through them (think of a Carbury's wispa), these where then dropped into the pacific and floated until a ship retrieved them. The idea seemed neat though the line from "We are going to drop a 1000 tonnes of metal into the pacific and that of we are going to drop a 1000 tonnes of metal onto your house" seemed a thin one. It's hard to defend from the bottom of a gravity well against someone at the top of one.
- astrodust 8y agoDropping metal back on Earth presumes that we'd actually care about Earth at that point. There might be so many resources up there that nobody comes back.
- JoeAltmaier 8y agoThis. I have the idea that folks on the ground will play games with money, and imagine themselves wealthy while developing asteroid resources. But it'll all be for the benefit of space-based industry, which will server space-based populations. Ultimately Earth will realize they have a big pile of imaginary points and no more metal.
- RandallBrown 8y agohttps://www.planetaryresources.com https://www.planetaryresources.com
- astrodust 8y agoUnless they're autonomous, the lag would be brutal.
- rossjudson 8y agoHow about "floating balloon launch loop"? A giant torus that floats near the edge of the atmosphere. Spin it for more lift, stability, and to throw things. ;)
- crystalPalace 8y agoYou beat me to it, I was just about to add balloons/rockoons.