Diff for "DynamicStructures"

Dynamic Structures

A dynamic structure is a seemingly fixed structure with compression support provided by the deflection of high speed streams of mass. There are many variants for space launch:

• vertical, like the space fountain

• circular, like Paul Birch's orbital rings

• orbiting segment, like Roger Arnold's spaceport

• ground anchored loop connected to circular segments, such as the launch loop

These ideas were all developed independently, most "negatively inspired" (that won't work but this might) by Arthur Clarke's science fiction novel "Fountains of Paradise", which was inspired by Yuri Arsutanov's "space railroad", which was inspired by Konstantin Tsiolkovski's "space tower".

We did not learn about each other until we published and presented at conferences; in my case four years after I started working on a series of ideas that led to the launch loop. Another motivator was Shirley Smith (mother of a long-ago girlfriend) who mentioned the old folk idea of a skyhook, an imaginary device that hooks onto nothing in midair.

• Space Fountain by Rod Hyde et. al.

• Spaceport part 1 part 2 by Roger Arnold and Don Kingsbury

• OrbitalRings - why these are difficult.

• Don Dolan's 2017 "Spaceport" ... orbital rings, decades after Paul Birch and Ken Brakke's orbital rings

• DomesticStructures - why you don't want to build a bridge or a building with launch loop technology.