I recently found out that the Boeing 747 is a superior aircraft, and far more economical to other cargo aircraft. So I've updated my website again. I've also re-done the transonic Grappler Rendezvous aircraft, which dangles on the end of the 3950-km tether.

I've posted some cool images of the modified 747 cargo carrier and the Grappler aircraft rendered with chromolly surface material.

Starship Generations

At some point I might do a really advanced analysis. Some of the stuff hinted at in the JPL Tether Handbook (also available for download) really needs to be tackled by someone like myself....

stuff like:

- orbital perturbation
- precession of inclined orbits
- dumbell libration of rotating tethered objects
- gravity gradient effects with stretch, damping, deployment & retrieval
- natural ambient thermal variation
- electrodynamic resistive heating
- aerothermal heating
- aerodynamic bending of tether
- Nomex cladding to prevent heat & hypervelocity atomic oxygen erosion
- electrodynamic feedback control of orbit, perturbation, libration, and gravity gradient effects
- micrometeoroid & debris mitigation
- interaction with ionospheric plasma
- high altitude amplification of ionospheric field strength with ionized gas

This stuff is great.