Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
TRANSPORTATION STRUCTURES
James E. D. Cline
Independent Researcher
9800-D Topanga Cyn Blvd #118, Chatsworth, CA 91311
E-mail: jedcline@earthlink.net http://home.earthlink.net/~jedcline/
___________________________
Copyright © 1997 by James Edward David Cline. Presented to, but
not published by the Space Studies Institute, Inc.
omnidirectional kinetic energy; and a jet of high asteroidal-sourced materials, loosely coupling them
pressure liquid creates an arch shaped structure in together to infill the Clarke Belt with them. Each
agravitational field. The arch formed by that high complete ring of them is home for 15 billion people.
pressure mass stream jet of liquid could support the Build enough KESTS to lift 1,000,000 people a day to
weight of a lightweight sheath around it, a sheath the Clarke Belt Orbital Habitat Ring, along with their
unmoving relative to the ground, forming a kind of household belongings. Make the Orbital Habitat Ring
bridge supported by kinetic energy. (OHR) sufficiently safe and luxurious to entice the
majority of the earthsurface population to move up the
Now consider an electromechanical analog of KESTS to live in it, creating a new primary site for
that high pressure jet of liquid. Recall that electrical human civilization. Restore the earthsurface ecosystem
energy is converted to kinetic energy by electrical to natural balance. Expand human civilization outward
motors, rotary and linear. Motors can be designed to from the Earth’s OHR. This is an outline of a KESTS
do the reverse, too, becoming an electrical generator to OHR (Kinetic Energy Supported Electrically
driven by kinetic energy. And torque or thrust is also Powered Transportation Structure to an Orbiting
coupled between the relatively moving parts of a Habitat Ring) project.1
motor/generator.
People prefer to live in man-made structures, The structure thus resembles an electric motor/
and space habitats are about as man-made as you can generator in an electrodynamic braking mode, the mass
get. So let us consider creating a transportation system of the “motionless” stator being torqued by the
adequate to move some 7 billion people over a period electromagnetically coupled drag force from the
of 20 years out to the Clarke Belt, along with their armature rotor whizzing past the stator, positioned such
household belongings, plants and pets, along with all that the torque provides an upward-oriented force
the agricultural, industrial, and markets civilization opposing the force of gravity. In this view the
needs for a solid resettlement there. For now, let us just “armature” is the mass stream. and the “stator” is the
create the option; later humanity can choose to utilize it earthsurface-stationary part of the structure.
or not. KESTS may be able to shoulder that task, along
with lifting the construction materials for the first few
such 10,000-person space habitats, solar electric power
stations, and construction materials for a head start in
building an asteroidal and lunar mining and materials
processing base to provide structural materials for most
of the vast ring of space habitats to orbit the Earth, a
site for a great civilization and way station to the solar
system’s resources there awaiting to be brought to life.
5. First adequately shielded space habitat in 8. Successful full-size fully functional habitats
GEO Orbital Habitat Ring a 10,000-person space built on site in Earth orbit from lunar construction
settlement built from Earth materials, brought up on a materials, such as the 10,000-person toroidal design.
KESTS bridge. This develops the functional structural
design with components built comparatively easily on 9. Robotically-built basic habitat shell structure
the Earth's surface. Outfitting the interior of the space made on site at OHR altitude out of lunar materials.
settlement to include as many earth-normal features as
possible. Tests out agricultural systems, condominium 10. Sustainable construction rate of 300
homes on the interior slopes, and creative harmonious orbiting habitats robotically-built per day in the OHR
social systems, and millions of the other things needing from lunar/asteroidal raw materials.
to be tested out there too. In a reference design of
1976, each colonist effectively has 26 fish, 6.2 11. First million square kilometers of
chickens, 2.8 rabbits, and 1/7 of a cow, and the plant earthsurface restored back into pre-civilization
diet for these animals is grown on the habitat in lunar ecosystem state.
soil about 1 foot deep. Housing of the colonists is on
terraced condominiums along the sides slopes inside 12. Construction/population of second Orbiting
the rotating wheel habitat, including 45 square yards Habitat Ring, populated by 7 billion descendants of
per person for residential and community life, 5 square first habitat ring's thriving growing population.
yards per person for mechanical and life support
systems, and 21 square yards per person for agriculture 13. Complete restoration of the earth surface
and food processing.15,16 ecosystem back to nearly pre-civilization conditions,
with a rotating population of only 100 million people
6. Long term electrical power to support the on the Earth surface at any one time, composed of
kinetic energy bridges needs to come from space ecosystem restoration and maintenance workers, and
resources instead of relying on Earth resources. national park vacationers.
of their lifetime to provide the home they now live in
with their family, and are not likely to easily choose to
Safety and Reliability Issues leave it all. The value of their real estate will need to be
adequately returned to them somehow in the overall
Safety and reliability of KESTS structures is a process. And those whose fortunes are dependent on
primary consideration of the concept’s application. Not the real estate wealth they have currently amassed, will
only to that which might be injured by falling pieces of need assurance of equivalent wealth in the new
damaged KESTS, but also to other KESTS, to the civilization site somehow. Who will provide the money
people and payload on the KESTS at the time, and to for all this? Can there be a one-for-one correspondence
those dependent on KESTS-delivered products both in of real estate on the ground with real estate in the
the Orbiting Habitat Ring and on the Earth surface. habitat ring? And can life in the habitat ring be
Aircraft crash liability and shipping liability models guaranteed sufficiently better than that on earthsurface
may be starting points for these issues. It is hoped that to provide the incentive to migrate? 1
empirical experience in developing this technology will
minimize these substantial risks; and the use of KESTS 6. Can there be multiple KESTS, or would the
seed emplacement and bootstrapping construction crossover sites provide risk of crashing together in
processes will start with small risk, and thereafter gain space? Can these crossover points be made deliberately
confidence with experience and growing size of the coupled, even providing additional stability to the
first KESTS being built to GEO. The seed KESTS are overall KESTS system?
envisioned preferably as being of tubing size a small
fraction of an inch in diameter, minimizing possible 7. What effects of the mass stream’s
damage worldwide upon its fall in a developmental electromagnetic flow within the earth’s magnetic field?
testing crash of a seed KESTS.
8. The entire KESTS structure must rotate once
Some Research Questions every 24 hours, as it is attached solidly to the earth
surface. Lateral coupling between upward and
1. Stability of the KESTS structure: how high downward mass stream provides the mechanism to
can it go while remaining able to cope with unbalanced swing the enclosed mass streams around with the
transient forces upon it? What are those expected rotation of the earth, but what are the magnitudes of the
forces? How much wobble will be present at any point distributed lateral force between the mass streams and
along it, particularly at the site of embarkation to the tubing, and how much weight does this structure add to
habitat ring? Can its active position servo system be the KESTS? These are important parameters for
adequately damped to prevent uncontrolled oscillations KESTS equations.
in the feedback loop? What is the ratio of active
feedback damping vs. energy-consuming passive 9. Given the transfer of most of most of
damping structures distributed along KESTS? civilization to the Orbital Habitat Rings around the
Earth, 15 billion people in the hypothetical example
2. What is the traffic volume necessary for a given here illustratively, there would be plenty of spare
given size KESTS, at the break-even point, considering mile-diameter 600 feet wide toroidal habitats, which
the energy input required just to maintain support of could be used to re-create small copies of earthsurface
the structure? natural ecosystems. Those local zoological parks
conceivably could be ark-like backups for all of the
3. Pulsing magnetic fields present a hazard to original earthsurface species, including the largest land
living beings: The coupling of the mass stream to the and marine mammals. Those space-based zoological
enclosing tube structure and to vehicles moving along gardens would be excellent research sites for the
the structure is primarily of a pulsing electromagnetic restoration and maintenance of the giant national park
nature. What hazard does this present to passengers, that the earthsurface could become, preserving
since some studies have linked such ELF fields to precious biological genetic resource pools of
diseases such as alzeheimers and leukemia; can design biodiversity for the future. What will be the managerial
minimize such ELF fields in cargo and passenger parts processes that ensure this will happen?
of the vehicles?
In Conclusion
4. What kind of industrial business system can
possibly remain responsible to the long term goals of Kinetic Energy Supported Transportation
an expanding civilization and restoration of the earth Structures potentially have some interesting properties,
surface ecosystem? primarily as a supportive structure for efficient
electrically powered rail transportation, and also as a
5. Willingness of the majority of present-day distributor of transportation energy along itself, as an
Earth surface population to leave their lifelong homes energy storage system, and possibly as a provider of
to migrate to the orbiting habitat ring: people are space solar-derived electric power to earthsurface
attached to the familiar, and often have worked much commercial electric power grids. The compressive
strength of these enormous structures bridging between
earthsurface and space is greatly augmented by radially 4. Smith, E., The Texas and Universe Railroad, L-5
compressing supra-orbital velocity mass streams NEWS, 9-11,1985
whirling within a bridging structure around the planet,
their outward centrifugal force providing primary 5. Cline, J.E.D., Testimony given to the National
support for the weight of the enclosing tubing structure Commission on Space, Nov. 14 1985
and its associated track and vehicle system;
electromagnetic drag against the high velocity rising 6. Cline, J.E.D. (J.E.D.CLINE1), Space Inspiration,
armature mass stream providing distributed support of GEnie Space and Science Library file # 475, 1988.
the weight of the earthsurface-stationary parts of the
structure. Similarly, vehicular propulsion energy is 7. Cline, J.E.D. (J.E.D.CLINE1), Energy/Transport
electromagnetically coupled from the armature mass System, GEnie Space and Science Library file # 563,
stream to vehicles carrying payload along tracks on its 1988.
tubing, thus lift energy is distributed intrinsically to the
point of need. Only a small fraction of kinetic energy 8. Cline, J.E.D. (J.E.D.CLINE1), Kinetic Structures III,
within the mass stream is consumed per transit loop, so GEnie Space and Science Library file # 2466, 1992.
there is much energy stored in the system, providing
some resiliency. KESTS to GEO would provide the lift 9. Cline, J.E.D. (J.E.D.CLINE1), Microelevator Vers.
capacity for building large scale Solar Satellite Power 1, GEnie Space and Science Library file # 578, 1988.
Stations in GEO, thus providing electric power for
itself and for sale to others; additionally, solar-electric 10. Cline, J.E.D. (J.E.D.CLINE1), KESTS
powered mass thrusters mounted on the KESTS itself Emplacement 2, GEnie Space and Science Library file
may be able to input power enough to maintain support # 1974, 1992.
of the KESTS and provide surplus electric power for
use on Earth surface electric power grids, delivered by 11. Myrabo, L.N., Technological Evolution of Manned
the mass stream instead of by microwave energy. Microwave-Boosted Spacecraft with Hyper-Energetic
Bootstrapping construction from seed KESTS which is Transatmospheric Performance, Space Manufacturing
emplaced by mass stream nose thrust-reversing flyable 10, Proceedings of the 12th SSI-Princeton Conference,
versions is described as one emplacement technique for 71-87, 1995.
these massive structures. A KESTS configuration for
direct access from higher earth latitudes is described, 12. Patterson, E.T., Methexis & Extraterrestrial
utilizing surface contact points which are mirrored Medicine, Space Manufacturing 10, Proceedings of the
about the equatorial plane. KESTS concepts suggest to 12th SSI-Princeton Conference, 167-181, 1995.
us a way to move ourselves and our civilization's
belongings far and high into Earth orbit, enabling earth 13. Cline, J.E.D. (J.E.D.CLINE1), Earthbound KESTS,
life to massively occupy the relatively motionless orbit GEnie Space and Science Library file # 953, 1989.
of the Clarke Belt. The decision to research and
develop the technology of kinetic energy supported 14. Cline, J.E.D., Wet-Launch of Prefab Habitat
electrically powered transportation structures would be Modules, Space Manufacturing 10, Proceedings of the
a major step toward true large scale colonization of 12th SSI-Princeton Conference, 88-91, 1995.
space, preserving a vigorous expanding civilization and
restoring the Earth’s surface ecosystem at the same 15. O’Neill, G.K., The High Frontier, William Morrow
process, hopefully beginning in our time. and Company, 1977