On 09/26/2012 01:38 AM, Tony Langdon wrote:
And of someone wanted to try out a new propulsion system on a live satellite, I'm sure AMSAT would be more than happy to help with the comms side of things.
One can understand the reluctance to allow an explosive kick-motor on a launch vehicle. But is that the only way?
What about a trebuchet? Springs? Rubber bands? Cylinders of compressed gas? Gas produced when needed by mixing two stable chemicals together? A motor that spins up an arm to 'throw' the payload? A magnetic railgun that fires a slug down out of orbit, resulting in recoil pushing the satellite up? Or the payload up, while deorbiting the railgun?
Surely someone smarter than I can come up with a scheme that might actually work? And someone with a smoother tongue than I can persuade a university that this is valuable research to be pursued by their space science department?