"Simon Morden" <simon.morden@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> skrev i
meddelelsen news:%yFyj.76084$jH4.61312@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> If we assume a standard construction for a tower, with a tether
dirtside,
> an asteroidal counterweight at the far end, and a waystation at LEO, am
I
> right in assuming that the waystation is actually in a orbit too slow
for
> its particular value of r?
Yes. Much too slow. The gravity that you feel there will be almost as
strong as on Earth.
> This being the case, the waystation will have gravity (towards Earth)
> pro****tional to r^2 minus that due to its rotational v? And not in
> freefall as I've described in the first draft?
As you move up along the beanstalk you will feel a lesser and lesser
gravity until you reach the altitude of the Clarke orbit, about 36000 km
above the surface of the Earth. There you will be weightless. Further
out
along the beanstalk you will feel weight outwards, as centrifugal
(pseudo-)force still increases and gravity still decreases. You may stand
on a floor and look at the beanstalk stetching upwards with the Earth at
the
top end of it.
Thus a good place for a way station is 36000 km up. But if you move
further out before detatching yourself from the beanstalk you will be
flung
into a higher orbit or even into escape trajectory from Earth altogether.
Jon Lennart Beck.
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