Tethered Ring Space Launchers

[@ViperSRT3g]

The fact that this can literally be built on the ground, and given enough engineering, require zero rockets to raise altitude is actually mind boggling compared to conventional orbital rings. And because of this, makes this structure far more feasible in actually being built before dedicated orbital rings.

[@TheMarineGamerIGGHQ]

If you take the fact away thats humans are building and maintaining it and on top of that every part is susceptible to the Earth's weather and movement. By the time this would actually be efficient and safe and realistic enough to build, we'll have already developed cheap and easy ways to get in and out of orbit safely and quickly

[@serversurfer6169]

The craziest aspect is that the cost estimate is only double NASA's annual budget. This is _entirely_ achievable. 🤩

[@LaSombraa]

@@serversurfer6169nope

[@bobinthewest8559]

The sections of this that would be above ocean, present some additional challenge… but still, it is not “impossible”.

[@Raye938]

I visualized it as a hoop skirt. The cloth wants to fall flat against you but wants to do so everywhere at once so it can't. You are suggesting we give the earth a hoop skirt for transportation. I approve.

[@andymouse]

Yes ! this analogy sorted it all out in my brain !...cheers.

[@BricksBlocksMocs]

Thank !

[@gareththompson2708]

So it's almost as good as the orbital ring in terms of throughput, a lot easier to prototype, and can be built on the ground. This thing is incredible. And the basic concept is just brilliant! Exploiting the Earth's curvature to hang something from the ground into the upper atmosphere!

[@genericytprofile852]

This is a really intriguing concept. A bit tough to understand at first but once you see it, it really is an "oh of course" moment. Amazing how I haven't heard about it before. Thanks for making an episode on it. And keep up the good artwork as well Jakub! They're really some top notch thumbnails and they never fail to get my attention.

[@Deipnosophist_the_Gastronomer]

It really is an 'Oh wow' kind of idea. I like it.

[@MrMonkeybat]

The way I made sense of it is to imagine a tennis racket resting on a basket ball.

[@Mr.Nichan]

I think the important point is that the tethers are attached to a circle on the Earth's surface that is smaller than the tethered ring, and they are too short to reach out to the circle on the Earth's surface that's big enough for the ring to rest on the ground. The only thing this doesn't explain to me is why it doesn't drift to get lopsided, such that part of the ring is on the surface while the opposite side is just ~twice as high in the air (less than twice, because of curvature, but closer to the supposed center of the ring). I'm guessing something to do with gravitational potential energy and/or the tethers pushes it towards this balance when it starts to drift off balance, just like a ring hanging from a tower in its center, but I'm not exactly sure what.

[@harryfrentz6899]

The easiest way to understand it: The Enemy's Gate Is Down.

[@gzbd0118]

@@Mr.Nichan The center of mass of the ring is slightly higher (farther from the center of the Earth) if it tilts, because the whole ring+tether system is basically rotating about the point where the tethers would meet. So the ring would oscillate around its stable position at some resonant frequency set by the scales of everything. It would be really important to make sure that this frequency is effectively damped! Edit: yeah, your intuition about the ring hanging from a tower is essentially correct.

[@Ilithilich]

A good example of a tethered ring is a bicicle wheel. The entire bike hangs from the top quarter of the spokes. The rest help keep the wheel in shape. Another cool example is a "tensegrity" table. The one that's held up with chains.

[@evensgrey]

The term for a structure which uses tension to hold members apart is "tensegrity". Buckminster Fuller did some interesting work in this area (like so many other areas in geometry).

[@weorldedit]

I dont think what is suggested can be called tensegrity. The ring spinning above orbital velocity provides the lift and the tethers are just holding it down, like a cable bridge. Now Isaac suggests that with a rigid enough ring there would be no need for active support, that would be tensegrity. But a ring the size of a planet, that is rigid enough under compression and kink forces, I dont think thats possible, even with SciFi materials.

[@stevegredell1123]

@@weorldedit Disagree, I think this is tensegrity. The active support isn't for holding up the ring, but for making it rigid. It wouldn't need to go as fast as a loftstrum loop or an orbital ring. The rigidity is what holds the ring.

[@weorldedit]

But he said the ring is above orbital velocity. So it is pulling upwards.

[@andrasfogarasi5014]

Yeah. The inner spinning ring is in tension. The cables are in tension. The sheath is negligible in the grand scheme of things. This is tensegrity.

[@birdshotbill]

Iv loved the upward bound series from start to present, I would listen to these episodes on the bus to college. Years later and iv completed my undergrad in electronic engineering and taking a postgrad in robotics, computer vision and machine learning, still watching these amazing videos you put together. Isaac you have played a large role in keeping me always excited for the future and motivating me to strive to have a role in a exciting future for humanity, Thank for your unwavering dedication to the SFIA community from across the pond!

[@ShaunRF]

Love hearing the Upward Bound intro music again!

[@Phantom-kz9bv]

The upward bound series has the best hype music ever. Whenever I play a video from this series and that music hits its so much fun and gets me really excited about the video.

[@demoniack81]

The Upward Bound series intro music remains badass as always.

[@stefanb6539]

Upward bounds is by far my favorite Isaac Arthur series. It's where I could most imagine being part of it. Or at least write stories about living in such a way.

[@jakec9522]

The simplicity of this concept along with its scale just helps you appreciate its beauty even more. 😊

[@zefellowbud5970]

i bet like if you set up multiple tethered rings around the planet in a certain sort of pattern you could then have a tube be passed from ring to ring around the planet into a proper orbital ring. afterwards you could have that orbital ring support the tethered rings as well. reducing further concern of it falling. or even at some point retiring the tethered rings.

[@Firepowered]

Much as I love the idea of a space elevator because of the coolness factor, I was ready to recognize that orbital rings are more feasible from a construction perspective, although the geopolitical issues would be a nightmare and the risk of terrorism would be ubiquitous. Tethered rings seems more feasible, more practical and more safe than any other option explored thus far, which makes me happy.

[@ryanwing936]

The upward bound episodes are, by far, my favorite to watch, since they are the closest concepts of possibility. Could we not eventually launch a full scale orbital ring using this concept by extending the tethers until the tethered track is in full orbit, and then connecting the ends and detaching the tethers all together?

[@atk05003]

The tethered ring is too small to orbit the planet. In order to turn this into an orbital ring, you would need to add sections to the ring until it was large enough. It might be possible, but I suspect it would require a process of building the tethered ring, then using it as a platform for building a slightly bigger ring, which is also used as a platform for a larger ring, and so on.

[@tite93]

Humanity can barely get functional high-speed railway going in most countries, I doubt a project of this magnitude is something we're capable of

[@ryanwing936]

@@tite93 I didn't mean financially. I meant technologically

[@boobah5643]

@@ryanwing936 Some folks think that the problem with high-speed rail is a technological one, not a conceptual one. The problem with passenger rail is that it doesn't replace the automobile (which is what they want it to do) because commuter-type railways provide you with less ability to bring cargo with you, don't run at the times you want to go, and don't travel the routes you want. It's worth pointing out that the first and last of those combine to make things even worse for rail.

[@lostconstruct1008]

@@boobah5643 I mean general passenger rail is pretty successful and widespread in some areas, so I'm not sure I agree. Plus, in any of the cases I've heard of, rail has never sought to replace automobiles entirely, just provide alternative transit methods and reduce traffic within and between cities. In walkable cities with well-established subway and commuter rail systems, it can even be easier and more convenient to use the rail system than to use a car, and virtually all of the problems you mentioned aren't issues. Of course, this is rarely the case in the US, but there are very few US cities with rail systems on that level. As for high-speed rail in particular, it is true that it faces some notable issues, but I don't think those issues extend to all kinds of passenger rail. Largely those issues would include that high-speed rail lines rarely double as freight train lines, reducing their versatility, that high-speed rail is quite expensive, and that the tracks need very gradual turns to accommodate the high speeds, making them harder to route through cities or terrain easily. These issues are especially pronounced in some of the more high-tech high-speed rail variants, like maglev. Another problem is that high-speed rail lines can't make frequent stops within neighborhoods like more conventional passenger rail lines can, making them poorly suited for transit within a city and better suited for fast inter-city travel. As a result, some countries do have quite well-developed and robust high-speed rail lines between cities, though it requires a large initial investment to build and proper understanding of how to implement it, which can limit its adoption in new areas.

[@Cilexius]

Thinking about the Atlantis project for a while makes it feel very different from what is shown on this channel usually. It’s because we could build this space structure today, on ground, and then lift it into orbit. That makes it somehow absolutely amazing! Feels like antigravity… 😊

[@velnz5475]

Iv always gotta account my initial impression of this because its probably the likely reaction of most people who would see this project. There is some hurdles not mentioned in this, laws and treaties for the workers of said project... laws and treaties for aircraft and sea safety of the teathers, would people feel safe with this?

[@UmbralKnight19]

@@velnz5475 I suppose it would depend on how spaced out the tethers actually are. If they're adequately spaced out, then there really isn't much issue and planes/boats can go between them. Even then, the tethered ring could just almost replace the need for aircraft and boats anyway, though I would imagine there would still be some in use to areas that aren't connected by the ring.

[@velnz5475]

@@UmbralKnight19 We as humans like to have many options; even when its not practical. How big are these tethers and are they adequately well lit? Could a earthquake destabilize the crust its connected to? Lets say we solve these with automation and guided computers to account for such variables. Is it humanproof, if so: why?

[@sixtenwidlund4258]

One of my favorite KZbin channels with original and interesting content with good quality!

[@knightsbailey]

One of the few channels I watch every week. My youngin is in school now so I rewatch with him when he gets home.

[@sarcasmo57]

So many cool things we can do if we could all get along.

[@notlessgrossman163]

Many potential synergies between the tether space launch, high speed transport, but also energy generation and transmission too : the infrastructure of the tethers and proximity to space allows access to abundant solar energy

[@DanielGenis5000]

Ah, the pleasant part of each week! The locomotive to beat gravity is a wonderful subject I’ve often wondered about. Always thought this could be engineered already…..

[@ShadeSlayer1911]

Dutch: You can't fight gravity. Scientists: Bet.

[@neilhowes]

Ìiìì P 23:36 ​@@ShadeSlayer1911

[@michaelmcconnell7302]

The intro music for Upward Bound always always gets me super hyped ❤️

[@connerogrady5035]

Mass space transit time!!

[@albertjackinson]

This episode generated so many ideas for my sci-fi writing, and I definitely will check out more resources to fully grasp this concept! Thanks Isaac!

[@sammy5576]

You can get rid of gyroscopic precession by using two counter rotating rings, there will be forces between them but the Tether won't see any angular momentum

[@ryanclarke6096]

You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. Thank you for your incredible devotion to your content.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

You are very welcome

[@jasonsoto5273]

Wow, what an amazing concept!!!! So simple and elegant !!!

[@danielporteous7904]

that would be a trip man, i imagine each tether will have names like roads do. cool how they showed the presentation going over NZ latitudinal not effecting so much land-mass. tethers to taupo.

[@russellg1473]

Isaac, I don’t know what my life would be without your channel, but I’m certain it would be filled with much less wonder. Thank you for what you do.

[@jonsteensen7706]

if you branch your tether enough, you can support your ring at very close intervals, which would help prevent it from buckling inbetween the tetered point. So provided that it is sufficiently stiff to handle the compressive loads you could in principle hang it from tethers alone that pulls it down, and with tethers on oposite sides of the planet counterbalancing each other. It would basically work like the hoop of a bike wheel with the hub being the Earth and the spokes being the teather. Though all the spokes of a bike wheel is in tension, the hoop can never get closer to the hub, as that would require the spokes on the other side to elongate or the hub to buckle, which is hard for it to do when the spokes are placed so closely togheter. It is kind of like a square parachute, that despite being rahter soft and flimsy, still will not collaps when the load is transfered to a lot of lies spread all over its surface, instead of being concentrated point loads. So perhaps you don't even need the active support for such a ring, and can do away the need to constantly feed it with power, if only you use enough ankering points and something like a light truss structure for providing stiffness to the ring.

[@markradcliff2946]

Isaac, I've always been a huge fan of the Upward Bound series. This just makes me more so! I hope Elan M. sees this. He, and others like him, could make it happen. And make money doing it! Imagine if this project was used to bootstrap space solar power satellites that could be purchased (and financed) by any country that wanted the power. Once we're back on the moon to stay, the raw materials could relatively easily be shifted over to being moon sourced. Incredible! Now, I just need to watch a few more times to get the tech involved to make sense. Thanks Isaac; you're definitely my favorite KZbinr. Keep up the good work!!

[@mjk9388]

An amazing concept. Surprised that I've never heard of it before. Kudos to the artist(s) that created the new artwork in the show along with the background sound!

[@Vjx-d7c]

Happy Arthur'sday 😊, Isaac I'm doing much better now, I'm on eyedrops and meds and I can see from , albeit vision is quite blurry, can't wait to finish this video Love from Jamaica 🇯🇲

[@sloperdad4835]

Anchoring one point of a ring at ground level while the point of the ring 180 degrees opposite is at an orbital height could provide access to orbit heights similar to a space tower. Or to an adjacent completely orbital ring.

[@colonelmustang7642]

So happy we get another Upward bound series. The opening is really well done and all your vids are always interesting

[@cannonfodder4376]

My spirits definitely needed another SFIA video. In the same way such technologies will send humanity upwards, this video sent my flagging outlook of the future upward. 🥰 A most informative video on something I never heard of. Great work Isaac and team

[@Solon1581]

It's videos like these that made me fall in love with this channel back in 2018. Incredible sci-fi concepts that make my brain hurt, but in doing so it trains my brain to (hopefully)become smarter, just like a muscle.

[@defeatSpace]

*vaporware

[@genkibob]

So, a step between a launch loop and an orbital ring. While I understand the engineering of it (the free-body diagram of acting forces, how applying tension down lifts it up over a curved surface), the big question becomes what is the frequency of the tethers below 15,000 meters where commercial aircraft operate. They would become significant hazards to navigation where the ring would be most useful, over the Pacific Rim, but less of a bother around the Antarctic where it loses much of its utility for commercial freight and passenger transport.

[@tormaid42]

Literally the coolest space launch concept I’ve ever heard. It’s so obvious in hindsight. Brilliant!

[@Vile_Entity_3545]

Yawn

[@0dWHOHWb0]

I think upward/outward bound are my favorite videos

[@PhilipMurphy8Extra]

Thanks for your effects Isaac Arthur, Be a pleasure to watch this that is for sure.

[@nandodando9695]

PLEASE do a video as short as possible, with video thumbnails, that shows the Build Sequence if we were to build every mega-structure. I think any Sci-fi with 'The Issac Arthur Tech ladder' as it's origin history would rock!

[@madmachanicest9955]

I think the greatest advantage of an orbital ring passing over particular country is just the incredibly cheap access to electrical power because you're going to have a gigantic orbital surface you could cover in solar panels and direct physical connections to the ground you can send power down

[@tanin34]

How funny, I've been listening to this Playlist all week and it just got updated!

[@robertkooiman27]

Interesting concept! I've been sailing on a cargo ship below Cape Hope and also in working offshore construction, we're talking roaring forties and screaming fifties in seaman's language if we talk about those latitudes. In old days helmsman were not allowed to look back when sailing downwind because they would be scared sh#tless there were also tied to the wheel of the helm :). Storms are frequent and waves are massive. Very hostile environment to build anything. Current massive offshore crane vessels can operate in 3 mtr wave max if not a high level of precision is needed. We would need massive construction vessels waaay bigger than current designs.

[@aarondyer.pianist]

I'm SO GLAD you came back to your Upward Bound series. My introduction to you was the space elevator and I'm curious what you think about recent developments in carbon nanotubes. I saw some guy talking about us being much closer to an Earth space elevator than I thought.

[@some_haqr]

You could have used the bicycle wheel analogy A bike technically hangs from the wheels spokes - ah you did lol Great video as always dude

[@numnut1516]

I like the new logo, it fits well. I do miss the old red one though, it would be cool to have as a moral patch. I’d buy one.

[@cogninaut4651]

Spin pulls outward, Gravity towards earth, Tether supplies the force needed to balance the other two. Much easier to understand this way imo.

[@HyTekHippie]

Could you use the tethers to hold up reflective material to shade the South pole, or even radiator panels to actively cool a planet like Venus? Also, can you imagine the kind of buildings you could build hanging down to the ground? Or along the tethers for that matter, they'd be like diagonal Sky Scrapers running for miles.

[@nickolasbrown3342]

how did it take so long for something so simple to be thought of by a proper professional? simplistic brilliance, like you said

[@mikeunleashed1]

It didn't, Isaac is wrong and/or mislead here. It was first described by Keith Lofstrom in November 1981.

[@rairaur2234]

Ah, weren't these one of the fist video topic all these years back? Makes me proud to see SFIA coming so far. To another 5 years of quality content! Hooray!

[@TheOneWhoMightBe]

The Upward Bound series is probably my favourite part of this channel, since it deals with near-term stuff we can technically build now or in the near future, and has direct, applicable benefits today.

[@MrRolnicek]

New upward bound ... and this one possibly the best video even within this strongest playlist.

[@Kirawatsisface]

A really ingenious way to achieve affordable space travel in our lifetime

[@somethingsomthing2456]

Cheers Arthur, its a Upward Bound Series again i love this series !

[@julesjackson4855]

The best explanation for this I could think of is that although “down” is straight at the ground for any given point on the ring, it is not that for the ring as a whole. It is not placed at the equator, because that would make it want to fall straight down. The design relies on that not being the case. If you slice the Earth in half at the latitude of this tether, more of the Earth will be on one side of the ring, which is why it can hang against seemingly nothing.

[@richardhanck972]

So if I've got this right, this leverages orbital dynamics to do the (literal) heavy lifting. The core ring is traveling at faster than orbital velocity for the altitude it's at. The entire ring core is trying to rise to a higher orbit... "East takes you out..." and so the outward force of the ring trying to rise to a higher orbit is balanced by the weight of the core, the sheath, and the tension on the tethers. It's kinda like spinning a lasso horizontally from above. The tension caused by the spin tries to get the loop of the lasso to expand. If friction is high enough the loop won't expand by drawing in more rope, but the angle of the supporting line gets shallower with respect to the plane of the lasso loop, and the loop rises with respect to the floor. But doesn't that mean that the ring core has to support the tensile load of a large portion of that force? Whatever the mass load is times the "upward" acceleration... Is that tensile load small enough for non-exotic materials? One thing that I'm not sure that's been considered in the case of a catastrophic failure. Unless the ring is spinning at greater than Earth escape velocity, if it fragments, _all_ those fragments are going to go into a (bunch of) massively high elliptical orbit(s). They're not going up to stay. That's what, a megaton or so of solid structural material raining down at high velocity at random places all over the globe? The ring core isn't going to just burn up in the atmosphere. Large enough chunks will be solid enough, coming down at a high enough angle and high enough velocity to make surface impacts. Plus, anything under the tether system is at risk of getting splatted by a falling tether. This would probably be worst near the midpoint, where the tether begins the load distribution branching. Highest solid mass, longest fall. It would probably take a lot to deliberately produce that failure... a suitcase nuke would probably do it. Spinning up the ring core would be a _bit_ of a process in and of itself. Probable months of acceleration of a solid ring a large fraction of the diameter of the planet... with probable sub-meter precision necessary in an environment not known for long-term stability? And there is no "emergency stop." Once that process passes a critical point, probably sometime very early in the process, it's either going to work, or it's going to be a disaster.

[@OpreanMircea]

Great episode!, I pictured why the tethered ring lifts up by imagining a rigid ring, tethered like in the graphics you showed, but slowly growing in diameter, it would have no choice but lift off, in reality the engineers would probably slowly winch the cables taunt making sure it's in equilibrium, but you are right, it's mind blowing to think about.

[@389293912]

We're going to visit Grandma on Solar O'cylinder Chicago that is transiting. Yeah, we're gonna take the East Coast Skyhook. Dad got tickets last week. Don't be late. That Skyhook doesn't wait for anyone for any reason.

[@cmelton6796]

The idea of shooting a payload to space using a giant electric helicopter on an extension cord is absolutely hilarious to me.

[@alanweiman1521]

This video and seeing the news about things like the fusion reactor in Korean, or that team of scientists that transfered power wireless 100 feet with lasers, has me so excited for the future. How could would it be to see the begining of the fusion or space era in our time?

[@ItRemindMeOfHome]

On top of NuScale's 2m long modular reactor

[@erikoftheinternet]

24:00 I love how you describe taking a train to get to a major airport as though it were some futuristic concept.

[@alanfarnworth2802]

another wonderful episode. what a wonderful idea !

[@alanboulter7319]

I can’t listen to this NOW .. but I DEFINITELY want to hear THIS.

[@kobebarka8633]

Isaac produces another incredibly captivating episode as always. Hands down my favorite KZbinr! Happy Arthursday! Live long and prosper Friends 🖖🏻

[@freddyjosereginomontalvo4667]

Awesome channel with awesome content and great quality as always say 🌍 Good job man

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Thanks freddy :)

[@Commentsnotvideos]

What about air traffic travelling between the tethers? I can imagine that a wall of massive hazards spaced 40-50km apart would be problematic for planes travelling through the region. Love the video, amazing concept and I hope to see something like it in my lifetime.

[@Dragrath1]

Yeah this will definitely cross paths with air traffic and thus you will need some way of making the tethers highly visible to aircraft. There is also a problem overlooked in that while most storm activity occurs in the troposphere storms especially powerful thunderstorms do induce significant atmospheric gravity buoyancy waves which can induce significant turbulence and eddies. Likewise just as thunderstorms can and do discharge down to the ground they also can and do discharge into the sky feeding into the ionosphere. These events are particularly more common in oceanic settings where the conditions for cloud to ground discharges aren't as favorable which matters given these rings are well suited to oceanic settings. These plasma discharges do diffuse with altitude which decreases the acute effects but on the flipside you are also much more likely to get hit by an event as the discharge spreads out meaning this will likely have a cost burden for repairs as well as heightened radiation exposure. The ring will also need to be grounded and or shielded to deal with storm discharges ionically connecting into the ring, though you might be able to tap into some of that power if you design accordingly. Also on a related note I have concerns related to the concept location around the pacific ring of fire. After all this is one of the epicenters of volcanic activity on Earth and thus the question for how such a structure handles an ultraplinian eruption column capable o f blasting material to the top of the stratosphere or as the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai eruption in January showed even blasting through the boundary layer into the mesosphere.

[@Forever-my4wp]

A couple of other items that came to mind with such a large construction would be a possible effect on weather patterns and would the moon have a tidal effect on the ring, placing stress at different points of the ring at the same time?

[@Alexander_Kale]

40 km apart is not really a challenge to navigate. Everyone would know where those tethers are, and modern aircraft are already flying blind for the most part, their flight paths directed by the people on the ground without onboard radar. The pilot does not need to see the tether, he just needs to trust into atco to choose a flight path for him that doesn't go anywhere near the thing. You are effectively complaining about having to shove a baseball through the doors of a cathedral here.

[@geoffbrom7844]

Quick hanging loop explanation: It's like a bicycle wheel, the bike actually hangs off the top of the wheel on wires (as an aside the wheel doesn't squish because the sides are held by wires of their own, but the launch loop's rigidity is from active support) Also see tensegrity :P

[@ralphacosta4726]

I seem to remember that Bucky Fuller used a Dymaxion Map to find an orbital path that only passed over the United States, the rest being over international waters. Saw this decades ago; sorry i don't have a reference or link for this, but it might solve some geopolitical issues in building this.

[@tesseractcubed]

Neat. Interesting to see developments like this still occurring, and likely continuing to occur in the future.

[@maskettaman1488]

Another incredible video, thank you!

[@a2bmasonry]

Damn man i can hardly wait to watch this. Really getting me hyped up with all these great ideas ive never heard or thought of . Just wana say thanx for all your efforts

[@TheArtofFugue]

Yay, back to the upward bound series!

[@xyzero1682]

Brilliant idea. I hope it gets built.

[@madmachanicest9955]

Oh my God it's an orbital ring supported by the tension of it being pulled around the planet to the same tension that would pull it down hahaha that's brilliant. 👏

[@GeorgeDolbier]

Has voltage differential been considered? If a conductor is ran "up" perpendicularly from the surface it will generate a voltage potential along its length, proportional to that length. It seems like a thing with kilometers long cables running kilometers up into the atmosphere would generate tremendous voltage differential in each cable. It seems to me that this structure has the potential to not only be self powering, but generate surplus power.

[@AliceB0]

If you're suggesting perpetual motion then no, all energy you would get from this would be the converted kinetic energy. In other words, generating voltage means slowing down which means you need to speed up again to keep it running and this will cost more energy than was generated because of thermodynamics

[@smileywarhead5178]

I'm super excited for this one

[@r0cketplumber]

Another way to describe the hoop is that you can start with it floating on the ocean, then the tethers pull it toward the "pole" of the hoop, moving it "north" along the axis. A globe with a hoop and cords would be a good show-and-tell aid.

[@andymouse]

This helps..cheers.

[@TheRainHarvester]

I liked the original orbital ring-type videos! Yay!

[@TheRainHarvester]

The active support system seems like a deal breaker. All those pumps needed to keep it in the air....when a black out occurs.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

It would slowly sink over at least a few days till power was restored, but it would seem unlikely that several different power grids spread around multiple continents would all break, including the solar panels mounted on it.

[@TheRainHarvester]

@@isaacarthurSFIA there's hope! Maybe we can all figure out a mechanism that requires less material, and has a smaller footprint. All those cables will require maintenance being in the ocean.

[@AshSpots]

This feels like a fantastic backbone for ultra-high voltage cross-planet powergrid sharings between countries/continents without land impacts or ocean maintinence/laying. In the not too distant future that alone might justify the cost being shared between the large number of countries that could benifit from shared power grids with renewables.

[@sizanogreen9900]

I feel like a better metaphor would be a bycicle wheel. Holding the outer ring in a rigid position by being fixed with wires to the center.

[@trex2621]

Was exactly my idea

[@pewterhacker]

Great minds think alike! See: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4fcmHZsqdOCo7M

[@boobah5643]

Except, at least as I understand it, this thing is pulling on the 'spokes' while in a bike wheel they push.

[@trex2621]

@@boobah5643 No. In bike wheel they also pull. They are free to move in opposite directions (at least on wheels, I myself have replaced tires and tightened spokes)

[@evensgrey]

On Venus, getting around the temperature and pressure issue for the adjustment winches is simple. You put them on the ring end of the tether instead of on the ground end.

[@pewterhacker]

Brilliant!!

[@odinip]

Thanks for the channel from cyprus

[@hasanmuhammad1817]

This would be good for harvesting sahara solar energy as a small spot can power the whole world but the problem currently is cost of transport.

[@mr.ackermann807]

For the rings above the countries i thought that if its above 100km in altitude then no nation has control since its in space and counts as international waters. Rings beneth that altitude would have jurisdiction since its not in international waters anymore.

[@empireempire3545]

I love how salty Issac is in this episode xD

[@nakashu01]

Great music change in the intro. 👍

[@foobargorch]

server sky is another under appreciated project that's been around forever

[@mikeunleashed1]

I don't know why you say Phil Swan invented the idea, when it was first described by Keith Lofstrom in November 1981.

[@TheCrazyCapMaster]

I think Isaac’s a fan of this idea 🤣 I mean, I am too so I’m not complaining.

[@theorize999]

i love your channel

[@michaelcarlin6049]

Wow! We can do this, and we should.

[@paxdriver]

If the hoop were spinning like a coin before going flat - not up right, but wobbling with a precession. We could keep the hoop up with mostly gravity except for the forward momentum needed to keep the hoop from laying flat and fall to the equator. I bet that would be the most efficient way to power the ring, better than tethered to the ground unless the spring is powered by earth's rotation being tethered down at one or two points.

[@Mr.Nichan]

I think the important point is that the tethers are attached to a circle on the Earth's surface that is smaller than the tethered ring, and they are too short to reach out to the circle on the Earth's surface that's big enough for the ring to rest on the ground. The only thing this doesn't explain to me is why it doesn't drift to get lopsided, such that part of the ring is on the surface while the opposite side is just ~twice as high in the air (less than twice, because of curvature, but closer to the supposed center of the ring). I'm guessing something to do with gravitational potential energy and/or the tethers pushes it towards this balance when it starts to drift off balance, just like a ring hanging from a tower in its center, but I'm not exactly sure what.

[@problemecium]

A simpler explanation might be balancing a big dream catcher (a hoop with chords and other connecting lengths of yarn inside) atop the basketball or holding up the basketball with the dream catcher. The yarn doesn't even have to reach the center of the hoop as long as the hole left in the middle is smaller than the basketball. To exist on its own, all the yarn in the dream catcher would have to be anchored to the hoop itself or an inner loop in tension, but attached to the basketball it can do without and anchor itself directly to the basketball's surface.

[@pewterhacker]

I love the dream catcher on a basketball idea - what an inspirational way to explain it!

[@PoeticJusticeSC]

Thank you! This explanation is the first one that made sense to me. Until I read your analogy I didn't understand what kept the ring up.

[@erikfreeman2472]

Wow! What an amazing concept! 🙂

[@wizardtim8573]

Love this channel so much. In a time of political strife and "everything's on fire", this channel is a godsend for content that's soothing and amazing! Really helps me on so many levels! Particularly in the "look forward to the future" department.

[@hdufort]

I've had a comparable idea a long time ago. A rail build with a lightweight metal alloy, lifted on top of an inflatable tube, up to an altitude of 50 km. We could also have a tube with partial vacuum lifted by a string of inflatable rafts.

[@tejing2001]

This doesn't really seem like a distinct concept from an orbital ring to me. Centrifugal force holds it up (in the absence of super-materials anyway), just like the orbital ring, but because it's not on a great circle, gravity can't provide all the centripetal force, because it's not pointing entirely in the right direction. You're just making up for the difference in direction of force by adding tethers. That said, it does sound a lot easier to sell people on building than a full orbital ring, especially as a first go.