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To: ckilmer
I haven't yet seen anyone address what I believe may be the biggest problem to overcome with a space elevator: lateral acceleration of the load.

An object at the equator is moving about 1050 miles per hour due to the rotation of the Earth. An object at geosynchronous orbit altitude must move at 3430 mph to be "weightless." Therefore, as you pull an object from the surface to geosynchronous altitude, you must accelerate it by 2380 mph to avoid pulling the cable like a bowstring.

52 posted on 02/22/2014 11:03:21 PM PST by rmh47 (Go Kats! - Got eight? NRA Life Member])
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To: rmh47
biggest problem to overcome with a space elevator: lateral acceleration of the load.

That's why a space elevator isn't going to save any money over a rocket. You still have to add the same amount of energy to an object to get it to stay in orbit. A space elevator doesn't provide any cost advantage.

73 posted on 02/23/2014 7:23:35 AM PST by Reeses
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