Moon & Mars Orbiting Spinning Tether Transport - Tethers Unlimited

days from payload pickup at one planet until payload reentry at the other planet, and include tether"hang time" and coast of the payload between the patch points and the planets. Faster transit timescan be made with higher energy initial orbits for the payload and the tether.Table 3. Potential MERITT Interplanetary Transfer Times*==================================AerobrakingEarth to Mars to Earth to Mars toMars Earth Mars Earthtip velocity (m/s) 2500 2500 3000 3000payload vel. at capture (m/s) 7979 2015 7474 1510payload vel. at release (m/s)12979 7015 12920 7364hyperbolic excess velocity 7732 5437 8258 5967patch to patch time (days) 84.94 118.74 80.74 110.59periapsis velocity (m/s) 13591 14934 14175 15418aerobraking ∆v (m/s) 6643 1798 7028 1819velocity at capture (m/s) 4305 10207 4517 10211total trip time (days) 90.64 124.92 85.95** 114.29Non Aerobraking Earth Mars to Earth Mars toto Mars Earth to Mars Earthtip velocity (m/s) 2500 2500 3000 3000payload vel. at capture (m/s) 7979 2015 7474 1510payload vel. at release (m/s)12979 7015 12919 7359hyperbolic excess velocity 7724 5437 8249 5964patch to patch time (days) 123.26 125.20 114.08 115.73periapsis velocity (m/s) 7020 12749 7525 13254velocity at capture 4520 10249 4525 10254total trip time (days) 130.70 132.04 118.57 119.95* planets are assumed to be at their average radius from the sun**≈ 70 Days, favorable opposition===================================Rough launch windows for the next twenty years were found for four cases using thehyperbolic excess velocities, vh, given by the above model, assuming a fixed patch to patch transittime, ∆t, and generating transfer ellipses for every tenth month. The ∆v needed to enter such atransfer ellipse was compared to vh and the window was assumed to exist where the ∆v was lessthan than vh. By successively shrinking ∆t until a window no longer existed, a rough minimumtransit time of 64 days and total trip time of 70 days was found for 9 Jun 2018.Synergistic Multipayload Assistance by Rotating TetherThe concept of the rotating tether in an elliptical orbit can be extended to a rotating tether in ahyperbolic orbit. If the payloads are separated near periapsis at the right velocity, one payload willbe captured and the other given an additional booset to its destination, as illustrated in figure 7.An object on an efficient elliptical transfer orbit from Earth's orbit to Jupiter's is movingroughly 5.6 km/s slower than Jupiter. Taking this as the hyperbolic excess velocity of an orbitwith a periapsis rp the periapsis velocity can be obtained by solving the equation for hyperbolicexcess velocity (Bate) for vp:12