3 ms·
It is 22,300 miles to GEO. At 100 mph, a trip to or from GEO would take 223 hours, or 9 days.
by gravitycop 18y ago
It is 22,300 miles to GEO. At 100 mph, a trip to or from GEO would take 223 hours, or 9 days.
- jmtulloss 18y agoI guess we should go a bit faster then.
- gravitycop 18y agoFor faster travel, rockets tend to be chosen. What, then, would be the point of a space elevator? By the way, the top recorded speed of a Bugatti Veyron, the fastest production car in the world, is 253 mph - on the flat. Travelling vertically at that speed, a space elevator car (we might assume it is powered by a 1%-efficient laser-beam stationed on the ground and aimed at photovoltaic panels on the bottom of the elevator car) would take 88 hours (or 3.7 days) to get to GEO.
- jmtulloss 18y agoHaha, it's ok, it was a joke. Thanks for doing the math though :).
- aardvarkious 18y agoI could see humans taking rockets while all non-perishable cargo takes the elevator.
- swombat 18y agoLast I heard it costs some $20,000 per pound to send material up in a space shuttle. I think this would be beyond most people's commuting allowance!
- gravitycop 18y agoThe Space Shuttle is not LEO on the cheap. The Sea Dragon does a lot better (as low as $8.90/lb, in 1963 dollars). http://www.dunnspace.com/leo_on_the_cheap.htm http://www.dunnspace.com/leo_on_the_cheap.htm http://neverworld.net/truax http://neverworld.net/truax http://neverworld.net/truax/Sea_Dragon_Concept_Volume_1.pdf http://neverworld.net/truax/Sea_Dragon_Concept_Volume_1.pdf http://neverworld.net/truax/Sea_Dragon_Concept_Volume_3.pdf http://neverworld.net/truax/Sea_Dragon_Concept_Volume_3.pdf