Re:SpinLaunch raises $40M to build a machine to catapult obj...
by JoeAltmaier on Friday June 15, 2018 @10:28AM
(#17320010)
I can imagine a heavy dead weight accelerated in the slingshot. Once released, it drags a cable, carefully laid out at an angle, with the payload attached. That payload would be accelerated into line behind the weight over a brief period. Taking fewer Gs and only once.
Very long cables are a lot cheaper than very large slingshots?
Anyway just thinking out loud.
Re:SpinLaunch raises $40M to build a machine to catapult obj...
by JumpCrisscross on Friday June 15, 2018 @10:43AM
(#17320092)
> Once released, it drags a cable, carefully laid out at an angle, with the payload attached
Unless your cable were elastic, this would not materially change the payload's acceleration. That said, you might find skyhooks [1][2] interesting.
Re:SpinLaunch raises $40M to build a machine to catapult obj...
by JoeAltmaier on Friday June 15, 2018 @10:51AM
(#17320157)
Of course it would. Like a lever has different forces on the short end and the long end, the cable could be curved and lengthened to control exactly the rate of transfer of momentum between weight and payload.
G-forces [1] are a consequence of acceleration. An accelerating object will experience g-forces in an atmosphere or in a vacuum. ("Drafting" [2] is an aerodynamic process by which a following object exploits a leading object's slipstream to reduce the former's drag.)
With a slingshot, the destructive force is the g-force inflicted by the acceleration. (With a rocket, the destructive forces are mostly vibrations and aerodynamic stress.)
Note that a slingshot doesn't require lots of Gs. One could use a super-long slingshot to achieve the necessary velocity. But super long is super expensive, so high Gs it is.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-force
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drafting_(aerodynamics)