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A skyhook is a proposed space transportation concept that its promoters say will make Earth to orbit, and interplanetary spaceflight affordable, thereby opening the way for the commercial development of lunar mining, asteroid mining, space-based solar power stations, space colonies, and colonies on the Moon, Mars, and in the asteroids. Skyhooks are often confused with an Earth surface to geostationary orbit space elevator, but they are different. A skyhook is a much shorter version of the space elevator that does not reach down to the surface of the Earth, is much lighter in mass, and can be affordably built with existing materials and technology. It works by starting from a relatively low altitude orbit and hanging a cable down to just above the Earth’s atmosphere. Since the lower end of the cable is moving at less than orbital velocity for its altitude, a launch vehicle flying to the bottom of the skyhook can carry a larger payload than it could otherwise carry to orbit. When the skyhook is long enough, single stage to skyhook flight with a reusable sub-orbital launch vehicle becomes possible.

The most important difference between a skyhook and a space elevator is that a skyhook can be built with presently available materials, while a space elevator cannot.

The following is a direct quote from "Hypersonic Airplane Space Tether Orbital Launch System" (HASTOL), a NASA funded study on rotating and non-rotating skyhooks.

"The fundamental conclusion of the Phase I HASTOL study effort is that the concept is technically feasible. We have evaluated a number of alternate system configurations that will allow hypersonic air-breathing vehicle technologies to be combined with orbiting, spinning space tether technologies to provide a method of moving payloads from the surface of the Earth into Earth orbit. For more than one HASTOL architecture concept, we have developed a design solution using existing, or near-term technologies. We expect that a number of the other HASTOL architecture concepts will prove similarly technically feasible when subjected to detailed design studies. The systems are completely reusable and have the potential of drastically reducing the cost of Earth-to-orbit space access."

The following is a quote from Keith Henson, co-founder of the L-5 Society regarding space elevators.

"No current material exists with sufficiently high tensile strength and sufficiently low density out of which we could construct the cable . There’s nothing in sight that’s strong enough to do it – not even carbon nanotubes."

Skyhooks come in two types: rotating and non-rotating. While no skyhook capable of capturing an arriving spacecraft has been built so far, there have been a number of flight experiments exploring various aspects of the skyhook/space tether concept.

Non-rotating skyhooks

A non-rotating skyhook is a vertically oriented, gravity gradient stabilized, tether whose lower endpoint does not reach the surface of the planet it is orbiting. As a result it appears to be hanging from the sky, hence the name skyhook. The idea of using a tidal stabilized tether for downward looking Earth observation satellites was first proposed by the Italian scientist Giuseppe Colombo.

The idea of using a non-rotating skyhook as part of a space transportation system where sub-orbital launch vehicles would fly to the bottom end of the tether, and spacecraft bound for higher orbit, or returning from higher orbit, would use the upper end of the tether, was first proposed by E. Sarmont in 1990, and expanded on in a second paper published in 1994. Other scientists and engineers, as well as NASA, Lockheed Martin, former astronaut Bruce McCandless II, and Dr. Robert Zubrin, have also investigated, validated, and added to this concept.

In addition, NASA representatives who have reviewed this concept have described it as, "The first idea we have seen that offers a believable path to $100 per pound to orbit."

The non-rotating skyhook is not a space elevator. A non-rotating skyhook does not reach down to the surface of the Earth. The lower end of the non-rotating skyhook is above the upper edge of the atmosphere and requires a high-speed aircraft/sub-orbital launch vehicle to get there. Since the lower end of the non-rotating skyhook is moving at less than orbital velocity for its altitude, a launch vehicle flying to the bottom of the non-rotating skyhook can carry a larger payload than it could carry to orbit on its own. When the cable is long enough, single-stage to skyhook flight with a reusable sub-orbital launch vehicle becomes possible. In addition, unlike a space elevator that remains over the same spot on the Earth, a non-rotating skyhook circles the planet every few hours. This allows the non-rotating skyhook to serve as a terminal for sub-orbital launch vehicles arriving from just about anywhere on Earth. This type of skyhook can start out as short as 200 km and grow to over 4,000 km in length using a bootstrap method that takes advantage of the reduction in launch costs that come with each increase in tether length.

At its longest, the non-rotating skyhook is approximately 1/25th the length of the 100,000 km long space elevator. As a result, it is much lighter in mass, and can be affordably built with existing commercially available carbon fiber materials. Analysis has also shown that this savings in cost to build for the non-rotating skyhook more than makes up for the additional cost of the sub-orbital launch vehicle that it requires. As a result, a mature non-rotating skyhook with reusable single stage sub-orbital launch vehicle is considered to be cost competitive with what is thought to be realistically achievable using a space elevator, assuming a space elevator can ever be built.

Another advantage of the non-rotating skyhook is that once it is long enough, the upper end of the cable as shown in figure 2, will be moving at just short of escape velocity for its altitude. This means that a spacecraft such as the Orion spacecraft, could be placed on either a free-return orbit to the Moon, or on course for a Near Earth Asteroid, without the need for an expensive expendable upper stage for boosting it to escape velocity. Elimination of the expendable upper stage and all the propellant it will require will also dramatically reduce the number of flights to the lower end of the non-rotating skyhook, which will further reduce the cost of such a mission.

This ability to capture sub-orbital launch vehicles coming up from the Earth at the lower end of the cable, and to launch spacecraft to higher orbits from the upper end of the cable, requires energy. Energy that comes from either a solar powered ion propulsion system or an electrodynamic propulsion system on the skyhook. The advantage of this over current launch systems is the greatly improved operating efficiency and reduced cost of either of these propulsion systems compared to conventional expendable rockets. While these high efficiency, low thrust, propulsion systems cannot be used for a planetary surface to orbit launch system due to their low thrust, they are perfect for use on an orbiting skyhook due to their ability to gradually store up energy by raising the orbital altitude of the skyhook between arriving and departing flights.

The docking maneuver

The process of docking an arriving spacecraft at the lower end of the non-rotating skyhook starts with the skyhook in an elliptical orbit. The low point of this elliptical orbit, the perigee, is selected so that the lower end of the skyhook cable will be at an altitude of 185 km at that point in the orbit. The altitude of the high point of the elliptical orbit, the apogee, is selected based on the mass of the arriving spacecraft.

In addition to boosting the arriving spacecraft to the proper speed and altitude for rendezvous, the sub-orbital launch vehicle for this flight will also need to time its take-off so that it will rendezvous with the lower end of the skyhook when the skyhook is at the low point of its orbit.

When the arriving spacecraft docks with the lower end of the skyhook it will lower the center of gravity of the total skyhook system thereby pulling the skyhook down into a lower more circular orbit. If the apogee altitude of the skyhook's initial elliptical orbit was properly selected, the skyhook will end up in a circular orbit after the arriving spacecraft has docked.

Upon completion of the docking maneuver, the skyhook's solar powered ion propulsion system, or electrodynamic propulsion system, is activated so as to start raising the orbital altitude of the skyhook back to its original altitude.

What makes the skyhook concept work is energy exchange. When the skyhook is in its initial elliptical orbit it is in a higher energy orbit than the one it ends up in after the arriving spacecraft docks with the lower end of the skyhook. What happens is the skyhook gives the extra energy of the higher elliptical orbit to the arriving sub-orbital spacecraft; a spacecraft that doesn't have enough energy to remain in orbit on its own. The end result is that the arriving spacecraft gets an energy boost from the skyhook that allows it to remain in orbit while the skyhook gives up energy and drops to a lower energy orbit. Before another arriving spacecraft can dock at the lower end of the skyhook, the skyhook will need to use its high efficiency low thrust propulsion system to raise itself back to the original higher energy orbit.

A non-rotating skyhook transportation system for Mars

In 1984, Paul Penzo of JPL, proposed a planetary surface to escape velocity tether transportation system for Mars that consists of two non-rotating skyhooks; one attached to the Martian moon Phobos, and the other attached to the Martian moon Deimos. An illustration of this concept can be seen here.

With this system, a spacecraft arriving at Mars, either direct from Earth, or from an Earth-Mars cycler spacecraft as it swings by Mars, docks at the upper end of the non-rotating skyhook attached to the outer moon Deimos. The people and cargo on that spacecraft then transfer to an elevator on the skyhook that will take them down to the lower end of the Deimos skyhook. There they board a small orbital transfer vehicle that will take them to the upper end of the non-rotating skyhook that is attached to the inner moon Phobos. Again they transfer to an elevator that will take them to the lower end of the Phobos skyhook where they will transfer to the reusable single stage Mars Lander that will carry them to the Martian surface. Passengers and cargo from the Martian surface that are bound for either the asteroids, or for Earth, would ride the system in reverse.

One of the advantages of this concept is that neither skyhook will require a propulsion system for orbital re-boost or for orbit control, as they both will use the Martian moon they are attached to as a momentum bank to make up any discrepancies in the upward versus downward mass flow of people and cargo. This elimination of the propulsion systems for the two skyhooks also makes for a significant reduction in the cost to build, and the cost to operate. Like the non-rotating skyhook for Earth, this two-stage non-rotating skyhook system for Mars can be affordably built with existing materials and technology.

Rotating skyhooks

As the name implies, rotating skyhooks rotate end for end in the plane of their orbit such that the upper endpoint becomes the lower endpoint and the lower endpoint becomes the upper endpoint. This is a skyhook that rotates like a wheel that has two spokes and no rim.

Earth launch assist bolo

When a rotating skyhook is placed in orbit around a planet, the rotational direction is selected so that the lower endpoint of the skyhook is moving slower than orbital velocity and the upper endpoint is moving faster than orbital velocity. When the planet being orbited has an atmosphere, the length and orbital altitude of the rotating skyhook is selected so that the lower end of the cable is above the majority of the atmosphere when it is closest to the ground. The reasons for this are to minimize heating of the cable as it passes through the upper part of the atmosphere, and so that a launch vehicle flying to the bottom end of the rotating skyhook does not have to deal with atmospheric buffeting while attempting to dock with the lower end of the skyhook. The fact that the lower end of the cable has a horizontal velocity of less than orbital velocity means that the launch vehicle will not have to go as fast as it would if it were going directly to orbit. Therefore, like the non-rotating skyhook, this reduction in velocity increases the payload capacity of the launch vehicle thereby reducing the cost of getting into orbit. Once the payload in the suborbital launch vehicle is captured by the lower end of the rotating skyhook, it is carried up and around until the end of the cable is at the top of its rotational arc where the payload is released. When released, the payload will be moving faster than circular orbit velocity for that altitude. This rotating skyhook/sub-orbital launch vehicle combination has also been referred to as 'Tether Launch Assist'.

Like the non-rotating skyhook, the rotating skyhook known as an 'Earth launch assist bolo':

• will need to be in a higher energy elliptical orbit prior to picking up the payload from an arriving launch vehicle
• will need a solar powered ion propulsion system, or electrodynamic propulsion system, for re-boosting the rotating skyhook back to its original orbit after lifting the arriving payload to a higher orbit
• will need to be at the low point of its elliptical orbit when the payload pickup is made
• will need a sub-orbital launch vehicle for carrying cargo and passengers to and from the lower end of the cable.

In addition, the rotational position of the lower end of the cable will also need to be at the bottom of its swing when the rotating 'Earth launch assist bolo' is at the low point of its elliptical orbit.

Zero velocity rotating skyhooks

Another proposed method for using a rotating skyhook that is in orbit around a small airless, or near airless body such as the Moon or Mars, is to select the length and rotation rate of the skyhook such that the lower end of the cable would have zero horizontal velocity relative to the ground so that it could pick up payloads directly from the planetary surface. These type of rotating skyhooks are called: Non-Synchronous Skyhooks, Rotovators, and Zero Velocity Rotating Skyhooks.

Interplanetary skyhooks

A third type of rotating skyhook is one that is far from its parent body, that rotates in the plane of the planets, and is used for interplanetary spaceflight. An example of this would be a rotating skyhook located at L-4, the leading Earth-Moon Lagrangian point, that would be used to launch and receive small transfer spacecraft traveling to and from a Mars cycler Spacecraft as it swings by the Earth on it way to Mars and the asteroid belt again. This type of rotating skyhook is sometimes referred to as a Free Space Skyhook, Bolo, Interplanetary Bolo, or Interplanetary Skyhook.

Hans Moravec

All three of these rotating skyhook concepts were first published by Dr. Hans Moravec in 1977, expanded on in follow-on papers in 1978, and again in 1986. In his first paper he states that the idea for the rotating skyhook was originated and suggested to him by John McCarthy of Stanford University. Other scientists and engineers, as well as NASA, Boeing, Tethers Unlimited, Inc., Dr. Robert Forward and Dr. Robert P. Hoyt, have also investigated, validated, and added to the rotating skyhook concept.

Launch Vehicles

Any orbital launch vehicle can fly to the lower end of either a rotating or non-rotating skyhook and increase its payload capacity while reducing its $/LB, $/kg, launch cost at the same time. This applies to all existing expendable launch systems such as the Atlas V, Delta IV, Falcon 9, Antares, Vostok, Proton, Long March, or the Ariane V. It applies to air launch to orbit launch systems such as the Stratolaunch/Pegasus II combination. This also applies to proposed reusable launch systems such as the reusable Falcon 9, New Shepard, Skylon, DC-X, a vertical take-off horizontal landing rocket powered spaceplane, a rocket-based combined cycle powered spaceplane, or the scramjet powered Rockwell X-30.

Rendezvous and capture

The following is direct quote from "Hypersonic Airplane Space Tether Orbital Launch System" (HASTOL).

"In any rotating tether transport system, one of the most challenging tasks will be to enable the rendezvous between the payload and the tether tip. For the tether to successfully capture the payload, the payload and tether grapple vehicle must come together at nearly the same place in space and time with nearly the same velocity. Because the payload is in free fall, and the tether is rotating, the payload and grapple vehicle will experience a relative acceleration equal to

a = V_t/L

where V_t is the velocity of the tether tip relative to the tether facility’s center of mass, and L is the distance from the tether tip to the center of mass. In the HASTOL tether designs described above, V_t is approximately 3.5 km/s, and L is approximately 500 km, so this acceleration is about 2.5 g’s. If neither grapple nor payload perform any maneuvering, the two will coincide only instantaneously, providing a minimal rendezvous window. Fortunately, it is possible to extend this rendezvous window to five seconds or more by using tether deployment from the grapple vehicle."

The rendezvous and capture of a payload at the lower end of a rotating skyhook happens in five seconds or it does not happen. Compare this to the three to five minutes that are available for rendezvous and capture with the non-rotating skyhook. When using a reusable launch vehicle to fly to the bottom of either a rotating or non-rotating skyhook, a missed approach does not mean the loss of a launch vehicle or payload. However, it does mean that the mission will need to be re-flown with all the additional cost that entails. As a result, critics of the rotating skyhook concept are concerned, that due to the much shorter amount of time available for rendezvous and capture, that the rotating skyhook will likely have a much higher re-flight rate than the non-rotating skyhook. This is an additional cost that will need to be accounted for when comparing the two concepts. Fortunately this is an issue that NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and Tennessee Technological University have been working on.

Skyhooks in fiction

A form of hard-structure subsonic skyhook was constructed during the events of Jack McDevitt's novel Deepsix.

• In the anime Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040, the three main protagonists arrive at the series' climactic battle with Galatea in Earth orbit by commandeering a skyhook transit system.
• Turn-A Gundam, anime series, depicts an ancient hypersonic skyhook which has been maintained operationally by nanomachines over thousands of years. An ancient mass driver is also used for transporting space-vessels from earth's surface to the skyhook.
• In the Star Wars expanded universe, skyhooks are common above Coruscant. They are frequently private retreats owned by corporations or wealthy individuals.
• In the LucasArts video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed a skyhook is being constructed on the planet Kashyyyk.
• The planet of Tara K. Harper's Grey Ones series features a number of skyhook stations. The tethers are apparently no longer functioning, but large terminal structures still exist.
• A skyhook figures prominently in Arthur C. Clarke's posthumous novel The Last Theorem, which he co-wrote with Frederik Pohl. The novel describes the skyhook as a means of interplanetary travel rather than simply a means to reach orbit. It is used as a means of transport by athletes and delegates to the "first-ever lunar Olympics".
• Skyhook construction is a central theme in the science fiction novel The Barsoom Project, the second book in the Dream Park series, by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes. The destructive potential of a falling skyhook is also explored, and the potential for this to be exploited by terrorists.

See also

• Mass driver
• Orbital rings
• Railgun
• Space elevator
• Space fountain
• Space tether
• Space tether missions

References

1. ^ Bogar, Thomas J.; Bangham, Michal E.; Forward, Robert L.; Lewis, Mark J. (7 January 2000). "Hypersonic Airplane Space Tether Orbital Launch System" (PDF). Research Grant No. 07600-018l Phase I Final Report. NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts. Retrieved 2014-03-20. {{cite conference}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
2. ^ Dvorsky, G. (13 February 2013). "Why we'll probably never build a space elevator". io9.com.
3. ^ Feltman, R. (7 March 2013). "Why Don't We Have Space Elevators?". Popular Mechanics.
4. ^ Scharr, Jillian (29 May 2013). "Space Elevators On Hold At Least Until Stronger Materials Are Available, Experts Say". Huffington Post.
5. ^ Templeton, Graham (6 March 2014). "60,000 miles up: Space elevator could be built by 2035, says new study". Extreme Tech. Retrieved 2014-04-19.
6. ^ darnell (10 April 2009). "Are Traditional Space Elevators the Wrong Way Up?". Colony Worlds. Archived from the original on 2009-07-14. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
7. Chen, Yi; Huang, Rui; Ren, Xianlin; He, Liping; He, Ye (2013). "History of the Tether Concept and Tether Missions: A Review". ISRN Astronomy and Astrophysics. 2013. doi:10.1155/2013/502973. Retrieved 2014-03-07.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
8. ^ Cosmo, M.; Lorenzini, E. (December 1997). Tethers in Space Handbook (PDF) (Third ed.). Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
9. Sarmont, E. (26 May 1990). An Orbiting Skyhook: Affordable Access to Space. International Space Development Conference. Anaheim California.
10. ^ Sarmont, E. (October 1994). "How an Earth Orbiting Tether Makes Possible an Affordable Earth-Moon Space Transportation System". SAE 942120.
11. ^ Wilson, N. (August 1998). "Space Elevators, Space Hotels and Space Tourism". SpaceFuture.com.
12. ^ Smitherman, D.V. "Space Elevators, An Advanced Earth-Space Infrastructure for the New Millennium". NASA/CP-2000-210429. Archived from the original on 2007-02-21. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
13. Mottinger, T; Marshall, L. "The Bridge to Space – A space access architecture". AIAA 2000-5138. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
14. Mottinger, T; Marshall, L (2001). "The Bridge to Space Launch System". Space Technology and Applications International Forum. CP552.
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17. Zubrin, R (September 1993). "The Hypersonic Skyhook". Analog Science Fiction / Science Fact. 113 (11): 60–70.
18. Zubrin, R (March 1995). "The Hypersonic Skyhook". Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. 48 (3): 123–128.
19. Sarmont, E. "Affordable to the Individual Spaceflight". Archived from the original on 2007-02-13. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
20. Sovey, J.S.; Rawlin, V.K.; Patterson, M.J. (May–June 2001). "Ion Propulsion Development Projects in U.S.: Space Electric Rocket Test 1 to Deep Space 1". Journal of Propulsion and Power. 17 (3): 517–526.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
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23. Illustration of 'Non-rotating skyhook transportation system for Mars'
24. Illustration of a rotating 'Earth launch assist bolo' capturing a payload and releasing it in a higher orbit.
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26. ^ Moravec, H.P. (18–20 October 1977). A Non-Synchronous Orbital Skyhook. 23rd AIAA Meeting - The Industrialization of Space. San Francisco, CA. Archived from the original on 1999-10-09. {{cite conference}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: date format (link)
27. Moravec, H (1978). "Non-Synchronous Orbital Skyhooks for the Moon and Mars with Conventional Materials". Archived from the original on 1999-02-03. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
28. Moravec, H (1978). "Free Space Skyhooks". Pittsburgh Pa: The Robotics Institute Carnegie-Mellon University. Archived from the original on 1999-10-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
29. Moravec, H (1986). "Orbital Bridges". Pittsburgh Pa: The Robotics Institute Carnegie-Mellon University. Archived from the original on 1999-10-12. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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31. "The Next Generation Launch Vehicle". Affordable to the Individual Spaceflight. Archived from the original on 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
32. Newton, K; Canfield, S (6 July 2005). "NASA Engineers, Tennessee College Students Successfully Demonstrate Catch Mechanism for Future Space Tether". News Release. Marshall Space Flight Center. Archived from the original on 2005-09-08. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
33. "Extract: The Last Theorem by Arthur C Clarke and Frederik Pohl". The Daily Telegraph.

External links

• Moravec, Hans (1976). "Skyhook proposal".
• Moravec, Hans (1981). "Skyhook proposal".

v t e Non-rocket spacelaunch
Spaceflight
Static structures	Compressive Space tower Pneumatic freestanding tower Tensile Orbiting skyhooks Skyhook Momentum exchange tether Space elevators Space elevator
Dynamic structures	Space fountain Orbital ring Launch loop Endo-atmospheric tether
Projectile launchers	Electrical Coilgun Mass driver Railgun StarTram Chemical Space gun Blast wave accelerator Ram accelerator Mechanical Slingatron
Reaction drives	Air launch Spaceplanes Laser propulsion Beam-powered propulsion
Buoyant lifting	Balloon Buoyant space port High-altitude platform
See also Rocket sled launch Megascale engineering Category

• Megastructures
• Space elevator
• Spacecraft propulsion
• Vertical transport devices