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0 pointsdredmorbius1y ago0 comments

Do you have any idea which mission that was?

Wikipedia has a listing, if that helps: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_tether_missions>

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throw3108221y ago· 3 in thread

TSS-1R mission, 1996

"TSS-1R was deployed (over a period of five hours) to 19.7 km (12.2 mi) when the tether broke. The break was attributed to an electrical discharge through a broken place in the insulation."

"Measured currents on the tether far exceeded predictions of previous numerical models by up to a factor of three"

dredmorbiusOP1y ago

Thanks, I seem to remember that vaguely.

I've also had the idea for a while (probably inspired by that mission) that any actual space elevator would be hugely influenced by magnetic and electrical influences, becoming a tremendously long conductor and/or static-charge accumulator.

You'd probably want it to be exceptionally well grounded, and want to take precautions embarking or disembarking.

hinkley1y ago

What I was never clear on is whether that makes them more interesting or less realistic.

dredmorbiusOP1y ago

The one thing that's clear is that this makes tethers a more challenging engineering problem than a naive / uninformed view might have suggested.

This is almost always the situation in engineering applications. The simple approach based on first principles turns out to be massively influenced by second- and higher-order effects. See Admiral Hyman Rickover's "Paper Reactors" for a classic take on this:

<https://whatisnuclear.com/rickover.html>

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4 comments · 1 top-level

throw3108221y ago· 3 in thread

TSS-1R mission, 1996

"TSS-1R was deployed (over a period of five hours) to 19.7 km (12.2 mi) when the tether broke. The break was attributed to an electrical discharge through a broken place in the insulation."

"Measured currents on the tether far exceeded predictions of previous numerical models by up to a factor of three"

dredmorbiusOP1y ago

Thanks, I seem to remember that vaguely.

I've also had the idea for a while (probably inspired by that mission) that any actual space elevator would be hugely influenced by magnetic and electrical influences, becoming a tremendously long conductor and/or static-charge accumulator.

You'd probably want it to be exceptionally well grounded, and want to take precautions embarking or disembarking.

hinkley1y ago

What I was never clear on is whether that makes them more interesting or less realistic.

dredmorbiusOP1y ago

The one thing that's clear is that this makes tethers a more challenging engineering problem than a naive / uninformed view might have suggested.

This is almost always the situation in engineering applications. The simple approach based on first principles turns out to be massively influenced by second- and higher-order effects. See Admiral Hyman Rickover's "Paper Reactors" for a classic take on this:

<https://whatisnuclear.com/rickover.html>

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse