[geeks] ultralight suicide mission

[Phil Stracchino]

Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:
> Tue, 31 Oct 2006 @ 13:14 -0500, Phil Stracchino said:
> 
>> Lionel Peterson wrote:
>>> I might be missing something, but if I were to go up via your "space elevator" there would be a *very* long cable right next to the platform I'd "launch" from (for my descent) - how could I avoid hitting it? With a balloon, as soon as you step off, it shoots up away from you (sort a nice that way)...
>> As previously alluded to, if you make certain you step off the leading
>> (eastern) side of the tether, coriolis forces will carry you away from
>> the tether as you fall.
> 
> Prove it... :)

Sure.  Show me a beanstalk and supply the gear.  :)

Seriously ...  dropping from a tether, you are *not* in orbit.  But ...
Well, if we assume it's close to the equator, at ground level the base
of the tether is moving about 1000mph.  A point 500 miles up the tether
is moving about 1125mph ... and so are you, if you jump off it there.
After you've fallen half a mile, you are moving "forward" (which is to
say, in the direction of the Earth's rotation) 0.125mph faster than the
cable is moving at that point.  Five miles into the fall, you're moving
away from the cable at 1.25mph.  Fifty miles down, 12.5mph.  As you
fall, you will progressively pull further and further ahead of the
cable, if you jump off the leading side.  (In vacuum, you'd eventually
smack into the ground with a forward speed of 125mph.)

Jump off the trailing side, on the other hand, and you'll smack into the
cable.  You'll smack into it relatively gently, as far as lateral
velocity is concerned; but you'll be moving downward at a pretty good
clip by then, and it'll probably hurt, especially if you hit a car on
its way up.


-- 
 Same geek, same site, new location
 Phil Stracchino                     Landline: 603-429-0220
 phil.stracchino at speakeasy.net         Mobile: 603-216-7037
 Renaissance Man, Unix generalist, Perl hacker, Free Stater