That sounds really ingenious :-) ! Thanks for posting it. I was thinking of a much smaller application to aircraft, i.e. a lot of weight of an airplane is in the wing spar. Suppose a ring of mercury or any liquid is circulating around the wings at high speed holding tension on the wings. They could be much lighter. In a helicopter, the centrifugal force (~10,000 G's) keeps the 8-12 inch wide airfoils extended. It is well known that the efficiency of an aircraft is highest with the airfoils right at the stall point (small chord), simply because the parasitic drag is minimized with the least wetted area.
Hoyt Stearns Scottsdale, Arizona US http://HoytStearns.com -----Original Message----- From: Jed Rothwell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 4:50 PM To: vortex-l@eskimo.com Subject: [Vo]: Launch Loop concept for earth to orbit access [This message bounced for some reason. It said Vortex-L does not exist.] Here is a fascinating concept! This resembles a space elevator, but the author believes it could be built with conventional materials, rather than superstrong materials that have not yet been invented. It seems like it would be cheaper than a space elevator, and it probably could be deployed sooner. See: http://www.launchloop.com/isdc2002loop.pdf http://www.launchloop.com/
