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Skyhooks (rotating tethers). Energetically they're like an elevator with a counterweight. They're also another non-rocket answer for the outbound leg.
by abecedarius 8y ago
Skyhooks (rotating tethers). Energetically they're like an elevator with a counterweight. They're also another non-rocket answer for the outbound leg.
- stcredzero 8y agoI think Venus might have an economic edge in the early days of the trans-Solar System economy, because the whole of its civilization will be floating at high altitude. Even without orbital rings and space elevators, everything will have very cheap access to space through skyhooks.
- abecedarius 8y agoLots of solar power, too, and lightsails and magsails have more to work with. (I was thinking of free-space skyhooks, exchanging momentum between inbound and outbound trips, but the ones for planets are also cool. Just harder when the planet is heavy like Earth and Venus.)