Re:The Spaceline: a space elevator alternative achievable wi...
by carapace on Friday September 06, 2019 @06:08PM
(#20900322)
https://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/wtether.html
"The Space Tether Experiment"
> The space tether experiment, a joint venture of the US and Italy, called for a scientific payload--a large, spherical satellite--to be deployed from the US space shuttle at the end of a conducting cable (tether) 20 km (12.5 miles) long. The idea was to let the shuttle drag the tether across the Earth's magnetic field, producing one part of a dynamo circuit.
The experiment failed, for a fascinating reason...
Re:The Spaceline: a space elevator alternative achievable wi...
by dredmorbius on Friday September 06, 2019 @06:35PM
(#20900483)
Thanks!
I was vaguely aware that the experiment had been tried. I'd either forgotten or never known the specific reasons for the failure. Though it rather closely matches the scenario I'd suggested above.
Huge charges across long distances mean very large currents. That tends to create difficulties, such as massive heating.
Whether or not this will be the case I don't know, though experiments with simple long tethers (several km to 10s or 100s of km) should be relatively easy to test: try them in some empty space and instrument for charges and magnetic fields.
Might produce an interesting de-orbiting spectacle as well.