Thread: Space Ladders

I have always imagined that my little, mostly TL 9, pocket empire made
good use of space ladders. However, I have never detailed out what form
they would take. Here are some thoughts I had about space ladders in the
Traveller setting in the hopes of prompting discussion about them (though
I will also be looking back over old posts as I do seem to recall that
this was discussed a bit a while ago).

Thoughts:

Space ladders technically become possible at TL 8. They are effectively
made obsolete by contra-grav technology at TL 10. The result of this
“short lifespan” where they are useful means that they are also very rare
to find on higher-tech worlds and worlds with regular access to trade
goods (technologies) from other, higher tech worlds. That isn’t to say
that they don’t exist. They do.

Generally, for a world to have developed the need for a space ladder two
factors must be present (exceptions occur, of course). A) The world would
be one that has existed for quite some time at TL 8/9 (usually at 9), and
B) the world would have a vibrant (or at least semi-vibrant)
inter-planetary community (this doesn’t need to be an interstellar
community).

Space ladders take many forms, but they tend to have some common
characteristics:

- They generally only exist on worlds with an A or B class starport.
- They are usually attached to the world’s starport.
- They are always in a geosynchronous orbit.
- The planet-bound portion is often built on a giant floating platform to
accommodate changes in the orbital position which may become necessary
over time.
- Often, the place they are built on the planet side either starts as or
evolves into a large airport accommodating travel across the entire world.
- Typically, worlds implement a fee for use of the space ladder (like a
toll) to help mitigate the costs of construction and operation.
- They are almost always armed to the teeth with all weaponry and
defensive systems available.
- Airspace around a space ladder, even on low law worlds, is usually
tightly controlled.
- On high gov worlds, space ladders usually are government installations,
while on low gov worlds they are usually owned and operated by
corporations.

add on to your notes on space ladders. those that follow an elevator type
plan, as most would i imagine, have a secondary effect when the ladders are
coming down. they can actually generate electricity! how this is done is
through the same superconductor magnets lifting the objects up, when the
loads come down, those same magnets are used to recover some of that
inertial energy on the down side. so while they would still require a pretty
large number of megawatts to get cargoes up to orbit, returning cargos back
down can generate some extra ergs to offset the use from the local power
grid.

On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 1:42 PM, <> wrote:

>
>
> I have always imagined that my little, mostly TL 9, pocket empire made
> good use of space ladders. However, I have never detailed out what form
> they would take. Here are some thoughts I had about space ladders in the
> Traveller setting in the hopes of prompting discussion about them (though
> I will also be looking back over old posts as I do seem to recall that
> this was discussed a bit a while ago).
>
> Thoughts:
>
> Space ladders technically become possible at TL 8. They are effectively
> made obsolete by contra-grav technology at TL 10. The result of this
> �short lifespan� where they are useful means that they are also very rare
> to find on higher-tech worlds and worlds with regular access to trade
> goods (technologies) from other, higher tech worlds. That isn�t to say
> that they don�t exist. They do.
>
> Generally, for a world to have developed the need for a space ladder two
> factors must be present (exceptions occur, of course). A) The world would
> be one that has existed for quite some time at TL 8/9 (usually at 9), and
> B) the world would have a vibrant (or at least semi-vibrant)
> inter-planetary community (this doesn�t need to be an interstellar
> community).
>
> Space ladders take many forms, but they tend to have some common
> characteristics:
>
> - They generally only exist on worlds with an A or B class starport.
> - They are usually attached to the world�s starport.
> - They are always in a geosynchronous orbit.
> - The planet-bound portion is often built on a giant floating platform to
> accommodate changes in the orbital position which may become necessary
> over time.
> - Often, the place they are built on the planet side either starts as or
> evolves into a large airport accommodating travel across the entire world.
> - Typically, worlds implement a fee for use of the space ladder (like a
> toll) to help mitigate the costs of construction and operation.
> - They are almost always armed to the teeth with all weaponry and
> defensive systems available.
> - Airspace around a space ladder, even on low law worlds, is usually
> tightly controlled.
> - On high gov worlds, space ladders usually are government installations,
> while on low gov worlds they are usually owned and operated by
> corporations.
>
>
>

--
The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to
think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.
Nikola Tesla