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posted by LaminatorX on Thursday September 03 2015, @05:05PM   Printer-friendly
from the freight-train-hopping-IN-SPAAAAAACE! dept.

Traveling around space can be hard and require a lot of fuel, which is part of the reason NASA has a spacecraft concept that would hitch a free ride on one of the many comets and asteroids speeding around our solar system at 22,000 miles per hour (on the slow end). Comet Hitchhiker, developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, would feature a reusable tether system to replace the need for propellant for entering orbit and landing on objects.

The spacecraft would first cast an extendable tether toward the object and attach itself using a harpoon attached to the tether. Next, it would reel out the tether while applying a brake that harvests energy while the spacecraft accelerates. This allows Comet Hitchhiker to accelerate and slowly match the speed of its ride, and keeping that slight tension on the line harvests energy that is stored on-board for later use, reeling itself down to the surface of the comet or asteroid. A comet hitchhiker spacecraft can obtain up to ~10 km/s of delta-V by using a carbon nanotube (CNT) tether, reaching the current orbital distance of Pluto (32.6 AU) in just 5.6 years.

Unfortunately rocket scientists apparently don't read SN, or they'd know from discussions last year that it simply won't work. It seems that the idea defies "basic orbital mechanics" and "makes no sense".


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  • (Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Thursday September 03 2015, @06:46PM

    by Zz9zZ (1348) on Thursday September 03 2015, @06:46PM (#231894)

    All depends on the material science that goes into the harpoon and how long of a tether they can use. A skateboard could safely tether to a race car if it had a mile long tether. With diamond nanothreads exceeding 500x the strength of steel, and being much lighter, I don't see why this is impractical.

    --
    ~Tilting at windmills~
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  • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday September 03 2015, @10:03PM

    by tangomargarine (667) on Thursday September 03 2015, @10:03PM (#231993)

    With diamond nanothreads exceeding 500x the strength of steel, and being much lighter, I don't see why this is impractical.

    Or better yet, power the craft with magical fairies and unicorn farts!

    --
    "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Zz9zZ on Thursday September 03 2015, @10:29PM

      by Zz9zZ (1348) on Thursday September 03 2015, @10:29PM (#232004)

      No joke! Alone neither of those would work be enough, but the fairies are able to increase the power AND efficiency to levels we can not even measure.

      --
      ~Tilting at windmills~