3 ms·
You are trading IIRC height or speed for the energy you "pump" out of the electrodynamic tether. So it's not a pure power source, but you can use it to maneuver
by m4rtink 5y ago
You are trading IIRC height or speed for the energy you "pump" out of the electrodynamic tether. So it's not a pure power source, but you can use it to maneuver in Earth's magnetic field without using propelant, with energy from solar panels.
Or possibly you can use it as a battery, "dragging" something up with solar power, then converting that potential energy back to electricity. :)
- hinkley 5y agoI can't recall if it was NASA or Tethers Unlimited that proposed using solar power to boost a tether into a higher orbit to offset some of the momentum transfer. Since we aren't spending a lot of time on these systems, I'm guessing they've discovered how impressively complicated it is to do a 4 dimensional rendezvous. It's hard enough in orbital mechanics to hit a 'stationary' object, and now you're going to spin it end over end...