Very interesting. Love the idea of torturing mathematicians by making them calculate these crazy-precise orbits, but I guess machines can do most of that(a shame).
How often could a tether actually be used for resource launches though? Assuming only one tether is in operation, would its orbital cycles be quick enough to transport materials consistently for a large lunar mining operation?
Also, I’m not super informed on lunar space debris, but I imagine that would pile up quickly as lunar space operations began. I think most debris here on Earth would be outside the domain of tethers, but I can’t find many numbers on the hypothetical orbits of lunar debris. I assume, though, that it would be very different due to the lack of atmosphere to burn up debris and the differing gravity. I figure you could make a tether capable of withstanding this, but how would orbits be calculated and rockets properly tethered with interference? Assuming that this is an actual problem.
Bit of a tangent, but I think space debris is one of my favorite hypothetical future problems, because it has a very similar and equally interesting set of fields which it intertwines with as climate change, while also not being a real problem I have to worry about killing me(like climate change)
The launch cadence is an interesting topic that I haven’t had a chance to tackle. The rotational frequency limits how often you can boost stuff.
Since time is money you would want a shorter and faster tether, but a shorter time of rotation means that your time window to dock with the tether is smaller, so there’s an optimization problem there as well.
It’s a little easier when you’ve got catapults on the moon’s surface. You can have two running side by side and transfer energy between them electrically. So load up catapult #1, spin it up, launch the payload, and then transfer the remaining energy to catapult #2. You can get much higher launch cadence that way.
Very interesting. Love the idea of torturing mathematicians by making them calculate these crazy-precise orbits, but I guess machines can do most of that(a shame). How often could a tether actually be used for resource launches though? Assuming only one tether is in operation, would its orbital cycles be quick enough to transport materials consistently for a large lunar mining operation? Also, I’m not super informed on lunar space debris, but I imagine that would pile up quickly as lunar space operations began. I think most debris here on Earth would be outside the domain of tethers, but I can’t find many numbers on the hypothetical orbits of lunar debris. I assume, though, that it would be very different due to the lack of atmosphere to burn up debris and the differing gravity. I figure you could make a tether capable of withstanding this, but how would orbits be calculated and rockets properly tethered with interference? Assuming that this is an actual problem.
Bit of a tangent, but I think space debris is one of my favorite hypothetical future problems, because it has a very similar and equally interesting set of fields which it intertwines with as climate change, while also not being a real problem I have to worry about killing me(like climate change)
The launch cadence is an interesting topic that I haven’t had a chance to tackle. The rotational frequency limits how often you can boost stuff.
Since time is money you would want a shorter and faster tether, but a shorter time of rotation means that your time window to dock with the tether is smaller, so there’s an optimization problem there as well.
It’s a little easier when you’ve got catapults on the moon’s surface. You can have two running side by side and transfer energy between them electrically. So load up catapult #1, spin it up, launch the payload, and then transfer the remaining energy to catapult #2. You can get much higher launch cadence that way.