Metal wires could cut the operating costs of the International Space Station
by hundreds of millions of dollars. In 1995 and 1996, space shuttle crews
experimented with satellites tethered to the craft by 20-kilometre cords.
Neither experiment was a complete success, but the data they gathered convinced
NASA that bare-wire tethers could generate power for the station as they cut
through the Earth’s magnetosphere. The tethers could replace up to 4 tonnes of
solid fuel.
More from New ¾«¶«´«Ã½
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Popular articles
Trending New ¾«¶«´«Ã½ articles
1
The Selfish Gene at 50: Why Dawkins’s evolution classic still holds up
2
Photos reveal unexpected details from the world's first atomic test
3
Can we harness quantum effects to create a new kind of healthcare?
4
The ‘doomsday’ glacier’s giant ice shelf is about to break away
5
The distant world that is our best hope of finding alien life
6
Mystery of the ancient giant stone jars of Laos may have been solved
7
Solar farm on the ocean outperforms land-based solar in Taiwan
8
How I used psychology to come back from the worst year of my life
9
After news about Oliver Sacks's "lies", we revisit his best-loved book
10
Wind-assisted cargo ships could more than halve shipping emissions
