Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Solar System Slingshot Power

 Throw objects around the planets and recovery the energy
  (+3)
(+3) 		 

Interplanetary probes to the outer planets have used gravity assist to rob the outer planets of their angular momentum. In the proposed idea, a steady stream of objects would be hurled at the planets by an orbiting space station. The orbits of the objects would be arranged just shy of the solar system escape velocity and would be timed and aimed to recover the energy back at the space station orbiting earth.

In an alternative embodiment, the objects would be rockets traveling near the sun. They would fire off their propellant at the lowest point in the trajectory.

—kevinthenerd, Oct 05 2012





       It's like a waterwheel running on rocks flying predictably through space.   

       Reminds me of the tagline 'like a magnifying lens but with rocks'.
—rcarty, Oct 05 2012
   

       [+] nice.
—FlyingToaster, Oct 05 2012
   
         


 

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