65
Forbidden planet: was Pluto’s 2006 demotion a big mistake? (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/space@mander.xyz
75 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 3 points 1 month ago (8 children)

wait what? how would that be possible

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 8 child comments
    •
  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago* (5 children)

    Space is really huge and it might be possible that the theoretical space elevator would never strike another celestial body.

    This is 100% speculative and I have absolutely not done any fact checking other than the fact that space is indeed, really Big McLargeHuge.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    searches

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking

    However, if both the difference in mass between the two bodies and the distance between them are relatively small, each may be tidally locked to the other; this is the case for Pluto and Charon

    They're apparently tidally-locked, so that's one issue out of the way.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon_(moon)

    Periapsis: 19 592.61 km

    Apoapsis: 19 598.92 km

    Eccentricity: 0.000161[10]

    So it's pretty close to a circular orbit.

    Orbital period: (6 d, 9 h, 17 m)

    But it'd still have to change length by about 6 km every 3 Earth days.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago

    But it’d still have to change length by about 6 km every 3 Earth days.

    Maybe this is crazy, but make it a giant jumprope. When they're closer together, the jumprope makes a tighter circle and spins faster. When they're further apart, the jumprope makes a larger circle. Put a weight in the middle so it has enough centripetal force to keep the rope taut.

    Trust me, it works, I thought about it for two minutes.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago*

    If humanity ever were to have the means to build a 12.2k mile or 19.7k km elevator in space between two planets at the far reach of the solar system, I would assume that we would also be capable of somehow making it longer

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    Pluto and Charon are mutually tidally locked, so they don't rotate in relation to each other.

    Plus, in smaller bodies you don't need impossibly strong materials to make a space elevator like you'd need for Earth. Hell, Kevlar fiber is strong enough to make a space elevator from the Moon to one of the Lunar Lagrange points due to the reduced gravity

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent