Abstract The space elevator enables fast interplanetary travel with fuel and reaction mass only needed for course correction and deceleration. The velocity of the end of the tether, 100,000 km from Earth, is 7.7 km/s. Secondary tethers rotating about the primary tether enable even higher velocities up to 17 km/s, allowing transits to Mars in as little as 60 days and to the outer planets in very short times compared to today's technology. Furthermore they enable complete flexibility over the direction of launch, even to objects outside the solar system.
Highlights Launching space vehicles at high speed to all solar-system destinations and beyond with little use of propellant. Gentle ride for scientific instruments. Increasing the utility of a space elevator.
Secondary tethers
Acta Astronautica ; 195 ; 561-566
2022-03-20
6 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
TIBKAT | 2022
|NTIS | 1992
|NTRS | 1992
|