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[andrea]

hence relatively.
going to space isn't exactly the safest and easiest thing ever.

[Shinziril]

It IS rocket science, after all.

[darkflagrance]

Right now going into space is all new and novel and fun and dangerous and cool. That why I don't want to go into space. Too expensive and risky.

In the future we may be required to go into space as part of our job, like a commute to work. It will be regular and en masse. That is when I will go to space, when it is common and joyless for most of those who undertake the journey.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Where's your sense of adventure?

[sneakey pete]

It will be regular and en masse.

11km/s of Delta V will never, ever be regular.

[darkflagrance]

It will be regular and en masse.

11km/s of Delta V will never, ever be regular.

It will be sufficiently regular when people are forced to go into space for business trips or relocation.

[10ebbor10]

It will be regular and en masse.

11km/s of Delta V will never, ever be regular.

It will be sufficiently regular when people are forced to go into space for business trips or relocation.

Contrary to popular belief, there's not much to do in space. And even with a space elevator or other technology, there still is a significant energy and time cost. There'll be no commuting. At best, maybe a trip home every 5 year or so. (Or, if you're just operating in LEO, every 6 months).

[andrea]

Commuting to space isn't something I think we will ever see in this universe. 6 months shifts, however, are reasonable. and I believe some people will have jobs like that before I die.

[10ebbor10]

Commuting to space isn't something I think we will ever see in this universe. 6 months shifts, however, are reasonable. and I believe some people will have jobs like that before I die.

Considering they do at the moment, ...

[Sheb]

LEO ain't far away. If we ever get a space elevator, I could imagine people working on asteroid placed in LEO following the same kind of schedule people on oil rigs follow now.

[andrea]

Commuting to space isn't something I think we will ever see in this universe. 6 months shifts, however, are reasonable. and I believe some people will have jobs like that before I die.

Considering they do at the moment, ...

I meant in a more widespread way, and with jobs other that taking care of ISS.
like, as sheb suggested, working on asteroids.

[Starver]

LEO ain't far away. If we ever get a space elevator, I could imagine people working on asteroid placed in LEO following the same kind of schedule people on oil rigs follow now.

Earth to LEO via a space-elevator?  Unless you have a good way to step sideways (and thrust sideways) 4/7ths of the way up to the GEO station, that sounds like a hassle.  Unless you need to be in LEO (manual geosurveying with a Mk1 Eyeball?  ...or ongoing manned operation/maintenance of some other downwards-pointing station that works better 'that low down'), I'd say move everything 'commutable' up to GEO, either on the tether itself of forward/backwards in the orbit[1].  Everything that doesn't have some other requirement (most of which will look to be in a higher-than-GEO station, or something elliptical/polar/whatever).

(I'd also like it if the mechanism to detach the cable-car from the cable was there only for emergencies, and not a routine thing to do, with a short dizzying time of disconnection before the required boost was initiated to attain the 15,000kph or more sideways (eventually) orbital velocity.  OTOH, I'd quite like the capsule to have disconnect and re-entry capabilities.  Still I don't see space-commutes ("No, I live in Iowa, I only work in space") this side of a Matter Transporter system, or something involving inertia-immune/proof hi-performance transfer vehicles.)


[1] Perhaps Eventually get yourself a ring of stations (whether you connect them up, or not).  But how much space do we need in space?  Although attaching line-tops[2]

[2] Well, not quite tops. The actual tether 'tops' would have the inverted counterweight station with the 'bomb bay'-styled free energy probe-launching system in it, for easy interplanetary launches.

[sneakey pete]

Indeed, a space elevator by design has to go to GEO, and if you step off of it anywhere before that you will not be in an orbit and without correction reenter the earths atmosphere at a rapid rate.

[10ebbor10]

Indeed, a space elevator by design has to go to GEO, and if you step off of it anywhere before that you will not be in an orbit and without correction reenter the earths atmosphere at a rapid rate.

Not really, you can build spaceelevators that don't go to GEO. Just hope nobody minds the gigantic basestation rolling through their backyard.

[Starver]

Not really, you can build spaceelevators that don't go to GEO. Just hope nobody minds the gigantic basestation rolling through their backyard.

...at <...grabs scrap of paper for very rough calculation[1]...> something like Mach 2, to keep pace with a LEO-stable tether-centre station.

(Which needn't even be constrained to an equatorial track, so you're only marginally safer from the sinusoidal ground-track for each additional degree of latitude you reside at.  With groundstations keeping apace a polar-LEO linkage nowhere is safe!  But, OTOH being at the equator is now advantageous... much easier to dodge.

Hmmm... I like the ground track made by a polar-orientated GEO-equivalent tether-base, though.  Pretty.  And pretty much predictable, easier to prepare planning projection for the highway you might want to build for it).  But I digress. )


[1] Might be wrong, so I'll show my working: Something like 15000kph@~25 thousand miles = 2400kph@~4 thousand miles.  Convert to m/s and divide by 330 for Mach-number.  I now realise I forgot to factor in Earth's surface rotation speed, so that appears to be 'only' 0.6 Mach, if travelling with the equatorial spin.