1,000km Cable to the Stars - The Skyhook
1,000km Cable to the Stars - The Skyhook on HackerTube: recommended by 1 Hacker News commenter across 1 month, 2019–2024.
Kurzgesagt explains the skyhook, a rotating cable with a counterweight that could catapult spacecraft from Earth orbit toward deep space. It covers why it would make space travel cheaper and more efficient.
What HN commenters said
6 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
kibwenNov 2019Recommends
Regarding the time it could take to travel between Earth and Mars, I recently saw a very interesting video on a concept called a "skyhook" that suggests it might be able to economically reduce the transit time to "just" two months or so, though I assume you'd still want to wait for an appropriate launch window, and in addition it probably wouldn't be operational in time to benefit the first few generations of travelers. :P ▶ this video
in “Domes are overrated” · View on HN
ENGNRDec 2024Cites it
I don’t know how deeply they analysed it, but Kurzgesagt seem to think the Martian moons have particular value as central gravity wells, to then reach further out to mine asteroids ▶ this video
in “Elon Musk wanted an OpenAI for-profit” · View on HN
limbicsystemApr 2023Cites it
Never mind space elevators - we could build useful sky hooks right now (and Mars might be the best place to do it...) ▶ this video
in “Space Elevator” · View on HN
imtringuedAug 2021Cites it
Combine balloons with skyhooks. ▶ this video Edit: According to proprietary imtringued numbers the hydrogen for a balloon capable of lifting 1kg to 50km would be $800 if you do not reuse the hydrogen. The skyhook would accept vehicles at an altitude of 100km so no, keep balloons out of the space launch industry.
in “Bring back hydrogen lifting gas” · View on HN
kristianpSep 2020Cites it
Surprising that no one here has used the term "skyhook" in the comments here. Adding it to increase discoverability of this thread. Could SpaceX's starship reach the tether without the superheavy 1st stage? The video in the article is here: [1] and the sources to the video [2]. [1] ▶ this video [2] [link]
in “Space Tethers: Stringing Up the Solar System” · View on HN
kempbelltNov 2019Cites it
▶ this video Fair point, that would indeed be a problem. This part of the video alludes to what I'm getting at. Granted, they are using a moon as the weighted object, so rotation wouldn't be affected by hook events. I wonder how massive the weighted object would have to be to make rotation changes negligible, or at least manageable.
in “Cable to the Stars – The Skyhook [video]” · View on HN