Possibility of a space elevator on Gilly?

[Findthepin1]

I just realized that the length of a possible space elevator on Gilly can be completely within the render distance. 42.14 km length vs 45 km diameter (of render distance sphere). Is this feasible?

[Guest]

It would probably take up the entirety of Gilly.  It might have low gravity, but that's because it's small.

[justspace103]

its possible, but you wouldnt need it because gilly is so small

[Temstar]

51 minutes ago, Findthepin1 said:

42.14 km length

It has to be longer than that, 42.14km is only the half way station, you need more elevator above this point so that the whole elevator will be taut and in tension. It doesn't necessarily have to be much longer though, if you tether something heavy like say an E class asteroid on the far end then the upper section of the elevator can probably be pretty short.

[LordKael]

Also, you can basically jump off gilly and be on an escape trajectory, so whats the point?

[Findthepin1]

41 minutes ago, LordKael said:

Also, you can basically jump off gilly and be on an escape trajectory, so whats the point?

Well, if you had this situation IRL, you could use the elevator as a big maglev accelerator. Load up some ore into the elevator and activate it, it'll shoot right back to Earth/Kerbin if you time it right.

Edited January 24, 2016 by Findthepin1

[rocketbuilder]

Just jump!

 

5 hours ago, LordKael said:

Also, you can basically jump off gilly and be on an escape trajectory, so whats the point?

 

[moogoob]

A space ladder would be sufficient for Gilly.

[Jetski]

Build it!  Get the bigger vab mod and hyperedit to start. Biggest I've ever assembled was 1km in LKO, just girders and SAS really. Maybe tweakscale too?  Epic if you can tether the top to an asteroid without kraken eating you

[Tatonf]

IRL something like a balista would probably be more efficient.

[The Optimist]

42 minutes ago, Tatonf said:

IRL something like a balista would probably be more efficient.

What? 

[Tatonf]

[The Optimist]

52 minutes ago, Tatonf said:

doesn't look very space-age to me

[Tatonf]

Of course, it's a siege engine used in the classical antiquity and middle ages. But old doesn't mean useless. You could still build something very similar that would launch things in space.

Or you could use a catapulta.

[Red Iron Crown]

17 hours ago, Findthepin1 said:

I just realized that the length of a possible space elevator on Gilly can be completely within the render distance. 42.14 km length vs 45 km diameter (of render distance sphere). Is this feasible?

The physics bubble is much smaller, about 2.5km in vacuum and 22ish km in atmosphere. Sorry, the space elevator won't fit.

 

[lukethecoder64]

10 minutes ago, Red Iron Crown said:

The physics bubble is much smaller, about 2.5km in vacuum and 22ish km in atmosphere. Sorry, the space elevator won't fit.

 

Thats not how it works. The currently loaded vessel can be as big as your RAM will allow:

Spoiler

 

 

You'd have problems climbing up it, though.

 

Edited January 24, 2016 by lukethecoder64

[Red Iron Crown]

4 minutes ago, lukethecoder64 said:

Thats not how it works. The currently loaded vessel can be as big as your ram will allow:

You'd have problems climbing up it, though.

 

Pictured craft is <22.5km long, so....

[problemecium]

Indeed. And if by "render distance" you mean the distance at which craft will load, we're looking at a radius of 2.25 km (or up to 2.5) and thus a diameter of 4.5 km (or up to 5), not 45. Unless I misunderstand, you seem to have shifted a decimal point.

[Halo_003]

Why would you need a space elevator on Gilly? You can almost jump into orbit. 

[Red Iron Crown]

2 hours ago, parameciumkid said:

Indeed. And if by "render distance" you mean the distance at which craft will load, we're looking at a radius of 2.25 km (or up to 2.5) and thus a diameter of 4.5 km (or up to 5), not 45. Unless I misunderstand, you seem to have shifted a decimal point.

The physics bubble is larger in atmo than in vacuum now, it's 2.5ish km in vacuum and 22.5ish km in atmo, a change made to make recovery more feasible.

[Champ]

On 24/1/2016 at 6:59 AM, Findthepin1 said:

Well, if you had this situation IRL, you could use the elevator as a big maglev accelerator. Load up some ore into the elevator and activate it, it'll shoot right back to Earth/Kerbin if you time it right.

I think you are wrong : a space elevator gets you to geostationnary orbit, not escape velocity.

[RizzoTheRat]

4 hours ago, Halo_003 said:

Why would you need a space elevator on Gilly? You can almost jump into orbit. 

Because SPACE ELEVATOR!

 

27 minutes ago, Champ said:

I think you are wrong : a space elevator gets you to geostationnary orbit, not escape velocity

It goes through geostationary, but unless it's rigidly supporting it's own weight you'd extend it beyond geostationary so it's in tension (hence the comments about attaching an asteroid, this would be beyond geostationary otherwise the weight of the tether would deorbit it).  Plus even on a tower than only extended to geostationary, there's no reason whatever you send up it needs to be sent slowly, most of the trip up is in near vacuum so you could accelerate a payload to a pretty high radial speed by the time it hits the top.

[Champ]

2 hours ago, RizzoTheRat said:

Because SPACE ELEVATOR!

 

It goes through geostationary, but unless it's rigidly supporting it's own weight you'd extend it beyond geostationary so it's in tension (hence the comments about attaching an asteroid, this would be beyond geostationary otherwise the weight of the tether would deorbit it).  Plus even on a tower than only extended to geostationary, there's no reason whatever you send up it needs to be sent slowly, most of the trip up is in near vacuum so you could accelerate a payload to a pretty high radial speed by the time it hits the top.

Yep, you are right, and i was wrong : i thought the attached asteroid needed to be in geostationary orbit or else the counterweight would move faster/slower than the surface, and that would destroy the elevator, but i was wrong.

[problemecium]

17 hours ago, Red Iron Crown said:

The physics bubble is larger in atmo than in vacuum now, it's 2.5ish km in vacuum and 22.5ish km in atmo, a change made to make recovery more feasible.

Oh yeah. I'd forgotten about that.
Not that it matters on Gilly where there's no atmosphere, heh.

[monophonic]

Now you guys got me wondering, whether the physic limit is truly such that any parts falling outside the bubble will not simulate physics, or if it simply looks at the CoM of the vessel in question, then simulates the vessel in it's entirety if the CoM is in range. (Or the root part even.) The latter would be a lot simpler to program for nearly the same result + avoid any kraken attacks from having physics calculated for only some parts of a ship. If it is the latter, you could build the space elevator but it would only work as long as you stayed close to the CoM (or root part, whichever it used.) So not very useful.