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Article #15951Flywheels and Space Stations
From: Filip M. Gieszczykiewicz fmgst+
Date: Sun, 03 Jan 1993 15:56
Date: Sun, 03 Jan 1993 15:56
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Greetings. How about a bit of a change of subject. This one is a bit more practical (and I'd patent if I could) [smirk] I'm sure most folks have seen the designs for 23rd century space stations - you know, the "wheel" ones. Yup, how practical would it be to use the spinnin motion of some parts of the station as a storage medium? From my point of view, the gyroscopic effect of a giga-flywheel would be benificial because it would stabilize the station and oppose all the forces like shuttles docking, folks shooting each other with guns [hey, how do you handle that part of social "interaction"? Gee, it's bad enough if it happens in a plane...[evil grin]], and other events that would otherwise be handled with rocket jets. Also, as you may suspect, the station would aready be spinning to simulate gravity (at least some portions of it would be, anyways). Hey, not to mention that we don't need any funky bearings and there is already vacuum! So, say we have a space station that NASA wants to build. During the time that it is exposed to sunligh (or magnetic field or whatever) motors are spinning up the flywheel which can then supply power to the station either when main power fails or simply as the MAIN power source. I'm sure this beats having a breeder/fusion/fuelcell in the vicinity of the station. Hope this stirrs some discussion as it seems to me to be a very possible (or more sane) application of this wonderful and efficient storage medium. Take care. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DO NOT REPLY HERE. REPLY TO "fmgst+@pitt.edu". THANK YOU. If that doesn't work, send that e-mail to "fmg@alpha.smi.med.pitt.edu". Proud co-owner of a Jeanie's Teenie serial# 1: all-Al, 285lb, low-wing, 53 hp, 120 knts, experimental plane!!
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!paladin.american.edu!gatech!pitt.edu!karol From: karol+@pitt.edu (Filip M. Gieszczykiewicz (fmgst+@pitt.edu)) Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: Flywheels and Space Stations Summary: ideal power source/battery Keywords: I hope this is original ;-) Message-ID: <1337@blue.cis.pitt.edu> Date: 3 Jan 93 15:56:37 GMT Sender: news+@pitt.edu Followup-To: sci.electronics Organization: University of Pittsburgh Lines: 39