🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <37198@ttidca.TTI.COM> jackson@soldev.tti.com (Dick Jackson)  
writes:
> In article <1992Aug3.032548.28245@sctc.com> beede@sctc.com (Mike Beede)  
writes:
> >I remember a story some time ago in Analog involving
> >the reverse scheme -- by driving a current through the tether, they
> >altered the orbit of the vehicle without any reaction mass.
> 
> I understand the principles at work (I think) and
> it seemed to me that the force produced would act on the wire, which
> being non rigid would presumably float up but could not cause the
> shuttle/mother craft to change orbit. Wouldn't the "wire" have to be
> rigid for this to work?

No... the wire could still be a wire, it would just have to be deployed in  
the away-from-the-Earth direction. That way, the floating you mention (for a  
wire deployed towards the Earth) would become a pull and would increase the  
orbital energy of the shuttle.

--
John R. Manuel                 Department of Physics, University of Alberta
manuel@space.ualberta.ca                 Edmonton, Alberta, CANADA, T6G 2J1
Office: (403) 492-2526          (NeXTMail OK)           Fax: (403) 492-0714