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Is this concept covered somewhere I'm curious about resistance and tension and velocity in space versus tons of chemical fuels? If I've missed that can you point me to it?

Sara
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    If my back of the envelope calculations are correct (a big 'if'), the radius of the 'sling' is 10 Km and the final speed required is 3.6 Km/s (for a basic Hohman transfer from Earth to Mars) the Gs experienced in the craft would be ..132. So even a relatively long tether, will require high Gs (and a very strong tether). The numbers don't make it seem so easy.. – Andrew Thompson Sep 18 '16 at 16:18
  • @AndrewThompson But, we could conceivably launch the people up separately and use that to launch the bulk of the ship, no? – corsiKa Sep 20 '16 at 22:25
  • Sure, but know we have 3+ Earth surface to orbit launches. 1 for the ship, one (or probably more) for the sling, and one for the crew that must still reach 3.6 Km/s. Plus the main ship would have be built to withstand 132 Gs! Once you boil 'conceivably' down to the raw numbers, it doesn't seem to offer any benefits. – Andrew Thompson Sep 21 '16 at 01:05

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