From: vince@offshore.ai (Vincent Cate) Newsgroups: sci.space.tech Subject: Re: Incoming!!! References: <5dcb47db.0404271220.2edbd6ec@posting.google.com> <5dcb47db.0404290246.5edd4160@posting.google.com> <9186edb5.0405051423.54938f06@posting.google.com> <5dcb47db.0405072059.5b7df050@posting.google.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 207.42.133.252 Message-ID: <9186edb5.0405121952.513fe789@posting.google.com> cray74@hotmail.com (Mike Miller) wrote in message news:<5dcb47db.0405072059.5b7df050@posting.google.com>... > vince@offshore.ai (Vincent Cate) wrote in message news:<9186edb5.0405051423.54938f06@posting.google.com>... > > > > The trick is to use a tether that is more like a net and less like > > a simple rope. > > I'm familiar with the Hoytether. That just gives you a chance to fix > small impacts before the tether breaks. You can even design the tether so that you do not need to fix the damage. It is just part of your tether getting older. Even without repairs you can design LEO tethers that should last for decades. You will want to monitor things to know how much redundancy you have left, but you may or may not bother with repairs. I expect a long time where people are switching to bigger and bigger tethers for both larger cargo capacity and higher delta-Vs. I think people will be replacing tethers faster than they wear out during this long growth period. > It doesn't deal with the root cause (dirty LEO), To the tether guys, the root problem is just making tethers work, not picking up litter. That said, one idea has been collecting some of the junk to get an initial ballast mass together. In the long run it could be a good idea to try to clean up LEO. But with something like a Hoytether you could start using tethers now, without waiting for a clean LEO. After tethers give you cheaper access to LEO it will probably be easier to clean it up. > and it doesn't address the risk of a larger impactor. Larger LEO objects can be tracked and so avoided. It is not hard to make the tether be in a different place/orientation at some known future time. You can winch in/out some tether to rotate faster/slower, use the electric thrusters, or maybe even time your catches/tosses differently. -- Vince