Questions tagged [skyhook]
A proposed method for orbital launch and transfers. Utilizes a long wire with fixed rotation to manage momentum.
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Does it make sense to use a skyhook to launch and deorbit mega-satellite constellations now?
One issue with sky hooks is that to keep them spinning, they need to accelerate and decelerate the same amount of mass; otherwise, they would change their velocity and might even slow down so much ...
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Tether materials considerations for sky hook with jet engine
Suppose a skyhook was deployed with orbital dynamics mechanics such that when its hook side (opposite the counterweight) entered the atmosphere, it was nearly stationary with respect to local air ...
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Could a rotating skyhook use a sail or wing to make orbital corrections to keep the structure in orbit?
Imagine a rotating skyhook with the majority of its length in the thermosphere, but whose hook side (as opposed to the counterweight side) has the ability to deploy wings or sails. Suppose that ...
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What is the TRL of a skyhook?
A recent answer on this question mentioned that skyhooks have a low TRL. This is probably due to many factors since they have not been built yet.
What is the current TRL/status of skyhooks and what is ...
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Could Starship lift mass to orbit (both low and geo-stationary) cheaper than a skyhook?
In response to this question which appears to ask only about space elevators and not skyhooks, would Starship's cost per kilogram to LE or Geo-stationary orbits be lower than a skyhook's? I ask only ...
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What can one do as an individual to help support the development of skyhooks?
In my recent research on the potential of a SkyHook, I've found a startling gap: it seems like no one is actively pursuing this technology. Many, including myself, believe that this could be the ...
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Could a skyhook with double pendulum catch a payload with zero velocity?
It's my understanding the the tip of a rotating skyhook would be travelling at ~3.6 km/s (Mach 10), which presents a major problem.
Could this be overcome by attaching a second, smaller, also rotating ...
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How can systems of skyhooks help interplanetary travel
I recently watched a kurzgesagt video on skyhooks, and it mentions that a system of skyhook, one on Mars and one on Earth, can shorten a trip to Mars from 7-9 months to 3-5 months. I am confused on ...
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Calculating momentum exchange of rotating skyhook
I am struggling to understand how momentum is exchanged during a rotating skyhook's interaction with a payload, during capture and after release. I am a layman in physics, please be forgiving if I've ...
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How much fuel could a rocket save by launching from an airship/blimp?
What could the Kozlov’s Aerosmena project blimp add to fuel saving if space rockets were launched from it? Where would you place the rocket and airship on this chart?
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would using both skyhooks and rockoons together be useful?
If my goal with a particular rockoon platform is not for it to reach space on its own but rather reach the lower end of some kind of some kind of skyhook, would the baloon part of the rockoon be more ...
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Constructing a non-rotating skyhook with a rotating one
There are two proposed versions of the skyhook concept: rotating (also known as a rotovator) and non-rotating. They're both meant to reduce the speed a launch vehicle needs to achieve to deliver a ...
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Are there any active or recent projects investigating skyhooks for orbital lift?
On the Wikipedia page for skyhooks, the most recent entry in "History" describes a 2001 effort by the Boeing Phantom Works to draft a proposal for a skyhook system for NASA under the name of HASTOL. ...
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How high *could* a glider reach, to catch a skyhook reaching down from orbit? [closed]
At the beginning of the third part of Seveneves Neal Stephenson describes how the protagonist Kath Two travels from the Earth's surface into the orbit with the aid of a Skyhook-named system. The route ...
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How to calculate drop due to ship docking at orbital tether
I am exploring some of the properties of a vertical orbiting tether (or non-rotating skyhook). This particular tether has a quite large mass at the location with a circular orbital velocity, with the ...
