this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2024
1107 points (97.1% liked)
solarpunk memes
2918 readers
1000 users here now
For when you need a laugh!
The definition of a "meme" here is intentionally pretty loose. Images, screenshots, and the like are welcome!
But, keep it lighthearted and/or within our server's ideals.
Posts and comments that are hateful, trolling, inciting, and/or overly negative will be removed at the moderators' discretion.
Please follow all slrpnk.net rules and community guidelines
Have fun!
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Okay, trying to wrap my brain around this one at 4:15am.
Is the idea that a ring around earth basically floats there because it's around the whole planet? Like, when it attempts to fall towards earth on one side, it would require it to move up on the other, away from gravity? So it's perpetually falling towards earth, but balanced because it's also falling in the opposite direction on the other side of the of the planet?
Or have I completely misunderstood?
Also, one of the videos mentioned it would need to be filled with something (I forget now), in a vacuum tube that ran its whole length... What happens if the vacuum tube gets a hole in it? Does the whole thing break apart and crash to earth?
I want the future they describe, but I can't say that I understand it lol
Been a while since I looked at this one, but the idea was that the inner ring would be rotating at faster than orbital velocity at that altitude. This would normally cause it to push itself out to a higher orbit, but the outer ring (or belt) would prevent that. That outer belt would be under a lot of tension, but not carbon nanotube level tension.
That makes sense, I think! Lol thank you!