The gravitational engine craft does not orbit as such. The gravitating rings in the engine are already essentially "in orbit" and this changes the nature on the entire craft and it's performance. The gravitational engine craft does not circle the earth and has no need to. It will move straight out from the earth (or more accurately follow an arcing path as it moves out due to the coriolis effect of the earth rotating beneath it) and can do so at a rate that is comfortable for the passengers. Riding on the craft will be much like riding an elevator. The body of the craft, passengers and cargo will not enter an orbit. They will simply be carried up and away as they move away from the earth their weight will gradually diminish by the inverse square law. At the height that the International Space Station orbits passengers will be able to walk around the craft at nearly the same weight that they experience on the surface of the earth. As the craft moves away from the earth passengers will experience gradually diminishing weight until it becomes near zero. Approaching another body such as a planet or moon passengers will experience gradually returning weight.
ENERGY EXPENDITURE VERSES ENERGY CONTROL
A rocket operates on the principle of energy expenditure. Once the fuel is burned the energy in it is used up and gone. In order to again change the motion of the rocket powered vehicle it is necessary to again burn more fuel and expend more energy. This felony is further compounded when spacecraft are put into space from the earth as most of the fuel burned in getting the vehicle into orbit is burned lifting the remainder of the fuel needed to complete the job of getting the vehicle into orbit. Only a very small amount of the energy expended in burning the fuel actually winds up in the motion of the vehicle itself. Rocket powered space flight is extremely inefficient.
The gravitating ring has the potential of space flight by energy control instead of energy expenditure as with the rocket. In the gravitational engine all of the energy put into the gravitating rings bringing them up to orbital velocity and above remains in the rotation of the rings. In terms of energy it is not energy expenditure that maintains a craft or other object in orbit it is the energy difference between the earth and that craft or other object. The same is true for the gravitating ring once it is up to the velocity needed to hover or lift the craft it does not need to have more energy added to it to maintain the hover or lift condition. The gravitational engine as laid out above is an electric motor and reversed it becomes a generator thus the electrical energy used to bring the rings up to trans orbital speed and take the craft from earth into space can be regenerated by the spin of the rings being slowed down to bring the craft back to earth. System energy losses such as friction losses or undesirable heat losses etc. exist in any system and the gravitational engine would be no exception however getting back any of the energy used for a round trip to space and back is phenomenal when compared with rockets.
As no gravitational engines have yet been built there is no hard data on how efficient it can be but efficiencies of 80% or better are probably doable. That would mean that 80% of the energy used by a gravitational engine for a flight to space and back would again be available for use in the next trip. There would only be an expenditure of 20% of the energy used. A rocket expends 100% of it's energy and most of that is expended on just lifting fuel. A trip to space and back with a gravitational engine would probably expend less than 1% total of the energy needed for the same trip with a rocket.
What doesn't exist at this time to take full advantage of what a gravitational engine is capable of is a sufficient electrical energy storage device. It should be possible to develop one. It should be small enough to carry aboard the craft as fuel tanks are carried aboard other vehicles. It needs to be able to hold enough energy to operate the gravitational engine at full capacity. And it needs to be able to re-store the electrical energy being regenerated when the rings are slowed down and carry enough additional energy to replace system losses on extended trips. Batteries can do these sort of things but not nearly on the magnitude required for a gravitational engine.
That the gravitational engine can recover the energy used to operate it points up that space flight is possible on a basis of controlling a body of energy or motion rather than expending it. This is an idea that really hasn't even been expressed in fiction much less in the real world. It can be done and a whole science and technology can and should be built around it as it is vital for travel to other planets and to the stars
< BACK RETURN TO HOME PAGE>