Main idea of this project is very long and thin carbon thread, with small capsule on one
end, and big rocket on another (also it can use gravitation field instead),placed in space.
When we start rocket engine,kinetical wave will start moving along the
thread, energy will be concentrated on the capsule, and capsule speed may be very
big.Carbon threads have very good tensile strength... It works kinda like whip.
Actually thread does not need to be conical(bull whips are but it's not really that important)
I posted essay about this project to SUCCESS Student Contest organised by EuropeanSpaceAgency, http://spaceflight.esa.int/users/success(look at their news page )
and visited Cologne, Germany. :-)
(wave comes to the end!)
(wave near end-of-whip)
{Whip is splitten 2 times!)
3D graph of speed in the whip.( try to find, where t, where speed, and where length)
Another graph.
In this case, maximal speed of one end was 2km/s and on another,15..17 km/s. Not so bad.
Bi-spiral configuration in gravitational field wasn't tested (yet)...
Then , after i have developed that,one scientist showed me 2 sites: http://www.SpaceTethers.com and http://www.Tethers.com
heh, NASA spends some mega$$$ on it...
and at the summer i was surprised alot: ESA changed the plans, as they said,
all projects are good, and not only top 14 but all second phase participants including me was invited to Award
Event, in Cologne (Germany).
I visited Cologne.
It was really great...DOM is really great building! It was really nice to meet European
students, thanks a lot to European Space Agency.
I was the youngest student who passed to second phase :) i was 17 years old and everyone was much older...
This project was very good for my self-education, i studied mathematical simulation methods and used it practically.
(C) 2004..2008 Dmytry Lavrov.
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