Various proposed space elevators may bypass the financial and environmentallimits on rocket technology, but all have their own problems. ALow-Earth-Orbit, LEO, rotovator-based space-elevator version called'sling-on-a-ring' may overcome them. This mass-lifting system uses the spatialstability of an orbital ring, accessorized for transfer and storage of momentumand electrical power. A high-tensile-strength equatorial circum-terra loop ofcolossal-carbon tube, CCT, fiber has solar-power and station-keeping units androtating sling modules. Long sling assemblies, ~600 km, periodically descendinto the atmosphere to ~13 km. At perigee, the sling rotational tip velocityalmost cancels the orbital-ring velocity relative to Earth surface.Split-second timing detaches a ~10 ton payload from an ordinary aircraft andjerks it into space by sling momentum, with the proven specific strength ofCCTs now under development. This system eliminates the immense mass in space ofother space-elevator systems, but needs extremely long (~100km) compressivemembers. Conceptual analysis for mass reduction of these structures is thesubject of this paper.
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