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Joined: Jan 2005
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dehammer, yes but you can change the design of such a system so that it can be made to work.
In space there is no friction, so in principle no you can win back all of the kinetic energy. The question is how this can be implemented in practice. You could think of a sort of maglev train in space. When the track ends it has accelerated to a certain speed and floats through space until it reaches its destination. At the destinatian it could brake inside a coil by generating induction currents. That energy could be stored and yused to propel a spacecraft on the way back.
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ah, so your seeing the ship as the projectile.
one major problem. the 'coils' would have the same effect working on them as the ship. remember the law 'for ever action there is an equal and opposite reaction' that means if the ship is accelerated along a coil, the coil will will accelerate in the opposite direction. the change in the speed which the two move are inversely proportional to the difference in their weight. if the "coil" is 4 times heavier, it will move away from the start poing 1/5 as much as the ship does. at the other end the recieving coil will have to assorb the speed, which will cause it to accelerate along the path. there would be no saving of applied thrust, only transfering it from the ship to coils.
also there is friction in space, mostly from the photons but also from the very weak solar wind. watch a vidio of a comet some time. its tail is caused by photonic pressure.
the more man learns, the more he realises, he really does not know anything.
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Joined: Jan 2005
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dehammer, that's right. I imagine that the coil is attached to a large space station...
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Originally posted by Count Iblis II: dehammer, that's right. I imagine that the coil is attached to a large space station... that makes your station a ship not a station. what keeps the station from moving?
the more man learns, the more he realises, he really does not know anything.
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It will move. But if later a spacecraft is launched then it can undo the change in velocity...
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Joined: Mar 2006
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the later spacecraft would have to be launched in the opposite direction to ballance it. if you "caught" a space craft from earth, its delta v would be added to your station. then when you launched it back to earth, the delta v would once again be added to your station.
the more man learns, the more he realises, he really does not know anything.
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