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|    rec.arts.sf.science    |    Real and speculative aspects of SF scien    |    45,986 messages    |
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|    Message 45,825 of 45,986    |
|    kiran panchal to eripe    |
|    Re: earth space elevator, moon, tilt    |
|    03 Dec 20 03:18:10    |
      From: kiranpanchal1222@gmail.com              On Tuesday, 17 September 2019 at 05:33:11 UTC+5:30, eripe wrote:       > On Tuesday, September 17, 2019 at 5:09:00 AM UTC+7, Bob Jenkins wrote:        > > Space elevators won't work. Well maybe they will but they're more       complicated than we've been thinking.        > >        > > A space elevator would be anchored at one point on earth, usually over the       ocean on the equator, then would extend straight up to about 1/5th the       distance to the moon.        > >        > > A minor overlooked matter is the moon. It's 1/81th the mass of the earth,       and on average 10x further from the elevator than the earth, so the elevator       would be pulled up at 1/8000th its weight when the moon is overhead. So the       connection to earth has        to be strong enough to resist a force of 1/8000th the elevator's total mass       pulling up. Like tides, it'll be 1/8000th heavier when the moon is opposite       the elevator, so it's more like 1/4000th fluctuation daily.        > >        > > But the major overlooked matter is that the earth's equator is not aligned       with the moon's orbit. It's off by 18 to 29 degrees. Two issues.        > >        > > 1. The elevator's orbit wants to be in the plane of the moon's orbit,       because the moon tugs it that way once a day. On planets without a moon, the       sun will have a similar effect. The plane of the earth's orbit around the sun       and the plane of the moon'       s orbit around the earth are pretty close, off by about 5 degrees. If the       elevator isn't in the moon's plane, it'll fall towards it, and keep falling       past it then fall back, oscillating back and forth. "Precession." From earth       this looks like tilting        north, then south, then back to north, once a day. If you start with an       elevator pointed up, after a few years it'll have fallen 2*29 degrees to the       side, forming a 32 degree angle with the ground, then it'll rise back to       straight up, back and forth. If        you want to prevent it from precessing, you have to actively push it sideways,       which is a thrust of about 1/100000th the elevator's mass times g all the       time. I can't see doing that. So instead you'd build the elevator in the       moon's orbital plane in the        first place, and it would tip north and south daily by 18 to 29 degrees.        > >        > > 2. The elevator no longer goes straight up from the nearest point on       earth: the connection oscillates north and south from the nearest point       between -18 to -29 and 18 to 29 degrees daily. This implies a change of up to       800km of elevator length twice        daily. Perhaps you could spool it up then reel it out again. You could drive a       power plant off of reeling it out. The elevator cable will be moving pretty       fast: 800km in 12 hours is an average of 66km/hour. Alternatively, you could       keep the elevator        connection fixed, just tugging harder when the attachment point is pulling in       and tugging less when the attachment point is going out.        > >        > > Any pictures of a space elevator going straight up from earth are as wrong       as a stopped clock: they're only right for an instant twice daily.       > The force from the moon is tiny compared to the self correcting force to the       rotating plane. If the station is 1° off that plane it will be pulled back by       a force of sin(1)= 1,7% of its mass.        > The moon can only make it wobble a widdle.              --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05        * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)    |
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