"Skyhook", at least, is what I call it. Although it now exists as a mere figment of my visionary imagination, the Skyhook "vision" has begun to coalesce into a form sufficiently detailed to judge its potential quite fully. What follows here is a "white paper", describing Skyhook in detail, assessing its potential applications. It seems to me that they are many - certainly more than enough to justify my enthusiasm for this project.
Conceptually, Skyhook's primary mission is its role in constructing high-rise buildings (particularly, the reconstruction of New York's World Trade Center). Though Skyhook is not limited to this particular purpose, of course, a description of its use for this function provides a convenient way for the general character of Skyhook applications to be illustrated and identified. The following discussion provides an assessment of its potential usefulness for a wide range of applications, but also serves to identify a few of its limitations.
Skyhook is a VTOL (Vertical Take-Off-and-Landing) RPV (Remotely-Piloted Vehicle) - so it is, first and most of all, a flying machine. It is useful for applications which require heavy lifts, to significant (or extreme) altitudes. Skyhook is powered by jet engines. Three large jets, vertically-oriented, provide its lifting capacity, and three smaller jet engines function as its maneuvering thrusters. Built on a reasonable scale, Skyhook has a 30,000-lb payload, with eventual expansion of the technology to extreme high-lift capabilities - possibly upwards of 500,000 lbs. Operated at relatively low altitudes, under tightly-controlled conditions, Skyhook functions as a crane, an elevator, or an altitude "booster".
An Airborne Crane
The operating costs of a Skyhook may be significantly higher than the costs of a conventional construction crane, so a conventional crane may be preferred for long-running construction projects, but tall cranes typically take weeks to assemble in place. Skyhook requires little set-up time, so Skyhook may be, often, of more immediate benefit for various ad hoc requirements - even during a long-running construction project. Skyhook may be useful in the initial placement of those tall, fixed cranes, but platooned Skyhooks could be used to quickly hoist entire steel-beamed wall assemblies, lofting them to virtually any altitude, significantly reducing the total construction time.
As in any crane operation, of course, public-safety issues are of paramount concern. Just as a helicopter's blades move air to create a sort of "air cushion", Skyhook's lift depends upon a similar sort of air movement, so it does have "jet wash", similar to a helicopter's "rotor wash", and, although Skyhook's jet wash doesn't have a spinning aspect, it is considerably more powerful, so Skyhook's jetwash could be a serious disadvantage. On the other hand, Skyhooks do not present the danger of rotor-strikes that could occur with a helicopter, so they are maneuverable in tighter, or closer, quarters - so Skyhook would be, undoubtably, quite useful for close-in operations around high-rise buildings. However, the utmost care must be exercised in Skyhook flight operations above city sidewalks and streets, to insure the minimum risk of damage to personnel or property below. Skyhook is capable of a wider range of maneuver than conventional cranes, so it requires a wider berth, or larger "drop-safe" zones. Public areas must be reserved for the duration of Skyhook's lifting tasks whenever Skyhook is operating above them, so its use may be limited to tightly scheduled times during evening hours, at night, or on weekends.
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