I'm not sure if miniature launch loops would be viable (i.e. self-supporting), but it should certainly be possible to build a space fountain up from the ground, at a very small scale. I'm still waiting to see it done though :(
It would be one natural path towards actual spacefaring.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-rocket_spacelaunch
Some ideas seem rather sci-fi :D
It was back when a much higher portion of people browsing the net could be expected to be relatively technically competent and to care about content and not gloss. Maybe it was removed since it didn't come up to some visual standard. Sadly I haven't been able to find it on archive.org
A catapult might be a more compact solution :)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-rocket_spacelaunch#Project...
The high gravity and atmosphere becomes a problem for all such stationary schemes here on earth.
In my infinite spare time (in retirement or something) I plan to build one of a scale large enough to launch something like a water balloon or maybe paintball payload a couple feet. I'm well aware there are simpler and more efficient ways to toss a water balloon ten or twenty feet, but its unlike there exist any cooler ways to do it. I would take it to the local maker faire and set it up next to the guy with the pumpkin trebuchet (every faire seems to have one of those guys).
It turns out that shock loads can be significant and dynamic stability is not exactly guaranteed, which makes it a cool engineering project. Also for small ones either the payload has to be extremely small (resulting in the paintball payload) or the loop has to be extremely heavy (probably not insurance approved, although it would be cool to spin up a length of hoist cable).
The one thing I have found is a cat or kid toy implementation radius about one foot. Its moderately cool. In order to eliminate or cut down on medical bills it has some elaborate and extremely fast motor current monitoring, which is usually the downfall of the toy.
If you're thinking the same thing I'm thinking, I wish you good luck. Its a cool project idea.
This topic comes up almost like clockwork on HN every couple years. Eventually I'll have something cool to demo.
- Citation please :)
