Your own idea seems quite ingenious too! Michel
----- Original Message ----- From: "Hoyt A. Stearns Jr." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <vortex-l@eskimo.com> Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2007 3:37 AM Subject: [Vo]: FW: [Vo]: Launch Loop concept for earth to orbit access > That sounds really ingenious :-) ! Thanks for posting it. > > I was thinking of a much smaller application to aircraft, i.e. a lot of > weight of an airplane is in the wing spar. > Suppose a ring of mercury or any liquid is circulating around the wings at > high speed holding tension on the wings. > They could be much lighter. In a helicopter, the centrifugal force (~10,000 > G's) keeps the 8-12 inch wide airfoils extended. > It is well known that the efficiency of an aircraft is highest with the > airfoils right at the stall point (small chord), > simply because the parasitic drag is minimized with the least wetted area. > > Hoyt Stearns > Scottsdale, Arizona US > http://HoytStearns.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jed Rothwell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 4:50 PM > To: vortex-l@eskimo.com > Subject: [Vo]: Launch Loop concept for earth to orbit access > > > [This message bounced for some reason. It said Vortex-L does not exist.] > > Here is a fascinating concept! This resembles a space elevator, but the > author believes it could be built with conventional materials, > rather than superstrong materials that have not yet been invented. It seems > like it would be cheaper than a space elevator, and it probably > could be deployed sooner. See: > > http://www.launchloop.com/isdc2002loop.pdf > > http://www.launchloop.com/ > > >
