than the orbiting spacecraft. Depending on the altitude, LEO velocity is on the order of 17,500 MPH while the incoming craft is doing around 25,000 MPH (perhaps faster, depending on the trajectory). That's a hell of a difference and represents a tremendous amount of energy. It'd be a hell of a lot more challenging than the glider recovery technique used sometimes in WWII where a cargo glider would be on the ground and a C-47 would fly over, snatching the tow line with a grapple device. The difference in velocity was only a bit over 100 MPH. It'd be a bigger rush than the old Skyhook device that was used some in the 1960s where a C-130 snatched a balloon and jerked a man off of the ground (as seen in the John Wayne movie, "The Green Berets"). Actually, that looked like fun!
Space/Science » in reply to re: Energy
The incoming spacecraft would be going almost 50% faster...
The whole thread (24 posts)
- Jeff Bell's pessimistic outlook for "Plan Bush"
- Interesting debate debunking Bell's views
- Fact and fiction
- You post made me remember something I thought about a few months ago
- re: Eye opener