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What do you think is the craziest rocket/spacecraft concept out there? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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[–] 1 point 1 month ago (1 child)

Very interesting idea! I never thought about a space elevator on a moon, like say Titan.

The length of the tether depends on the planet or moon's gravity and how fast it rotates. Lower gravity and faster rotation make for a shorter tether. A Mars one would only have to be about 3/4 as long as on Earth. Unfortunately, a space elevator tether on any planet or major moon in the solar system would be tens of thousands of kilometers long - all on the same scale of difficulty in terms of materials science.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    One of my assumptions is getting off earth will always be the most expensive part of any space activity. Implications are

    • getting bulk materials from other than earth will be critical to make it sustainable
    • some degree of local manufacturing and farming is vital
    • mining in space will never be worth returning to earth

    Therefore even relatively small permanent presences in space might quickly turn to “trade”. If we can refine mineral X on the moon it may be cheaper to ship to a Europa base than for Europa to find it locally, and both be far cheaper than bringing it up from earth

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