4 ms·
How about making the elevator start in the North pole (or South pole) and go vertically from there. That way, we can be sure that it will never meet the traject
by S4M 13y ago
How about making the elevator start in the North pole (or South pole) and go vertically from there. That way, we can be sure that it will never meet the trajectory of a satellite?
Of course, it would prove harder to build it in those cold regions.
- jccooper 13y agoImpossible. It must be on the equator. Attaching a line from the ground to a large object in geosynchronous orbit is the essential plan, and GEO only happens above the equator.
- Crito 13y agoYou could attach the tether at a higher or lower latitude, but standing on the ground next to it, it would appear to rise into the sky at a rather alarming angle (more or less parallel with the equatorial plane). More of the cable would be going through the atmosphere. Centrifugal force would hold it taunt and a great deal of tension at the base would be required to keep the entire system in that configuration. At no point along the cable would the cable be following a valid orbit (the center of mass of the cable would not be in geosynchronous orbit). You would need a much stronger cable, and the result would be far less useful. Edit: http://gassend.net/publications/NonEquatorialUniformStressSpaceElevators.pdf http://gassend.net/publications/NonEquatorialUniformStressSp...