Skip to main content

Space Tethers? Say Hello to Interplanetary Travel

SPACE TETHERS. Interplanetary travel may sound like its came out straight out of a sci-fi movie, a little "fantasy like", but we may be closer to the objective than we think. We have a technology called rockets which takes payload to the space. An object will need a velocity of over 40,000 to escapee the Earth's atmosphere. Which means the rocket will need a ton of fuel. A majority of the space inside a rocket is reserved for rocket fuel, and the tip of the rocket carries a payload which is not a lot. It is also called a space elevator to further simplify the concept, but it is more like a rope hanging from a satellite orbiting the Earth. The satellite in orbit will have a long rope with a docking station attached. The concept will look like a nun chuck. Once in orbit, the nun chuck like tether will rotate keeping the momentum at an equal rate. Using that momentum, we are able to fling the ships, or capsules outer space, or even catch the ships coming inbound and reduce the momentum to safely slow down the craft. All this may sound really complicating in word, however things will clear up when we see an animation of this concept.

Comments