Value chain · CLM-1368
In plain terms
The study found a 600 to 900 km cable works best. Shorter ones jerk the cargo too hard, longer ones get too heavy. Its first design spun faster than it needed to.
The claim as recorded
The HASTOL study's trade runs put the best tether length between 600 and 900 km; its earlier Phase I design used a nominal 600 km tether turning at a nominal 3,500 m/s, which the study later called "over-capable". The study gives the reasons for that range: tethers shorter than 450 km load the payload harder at pickup, and tethers longer than 1,000 km grow rapidly in mass.
Evidence behind this: T3, appendices to a contractor final report; it permits "the study states Y".
Scope and limits
The Appendix B runs assume a 150 km, Mach 19 rendezvous (PDF p.83), not the Phase II Mach 17 design point. The 3,500 m/s figure is the Phase I value; the Phase II design uses about 2.5 km/s (CLM-1367).
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
PDF p.83 (Appendix B, B-2): "the optimum length for the tether of a HASTOL Tether Boost Facility is between 600 km and 900 km". PDF p.78 (Appendix A): "The tether length in our design is a nominal 600 km and the tether rotation speed is a nominal 3,500 m/s". PDF p.35 / printed 29: "The HASTOL system baselined in the Phase I effort was "over-capable""; tethers under 450 km have high pickup acceleration and over 1,000 km increase rapidly in mass (paraphrase, PDF p.37 / printed 31).
Basis: tether length (km); tip speed (m/s)
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1368
CLM-1368, Energy Aperture, as of 2001-10.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.