would it be logical to put a ring around the planet?

Question

so that space ships would merely have to push off to get into space rather than strap a ton of explosives and prayer to your back and hope you make it. or would that put strain on the gravity of the earth causing it to crumble? we have the resources why not do it, unless there is some reason not too.

and i mean earth in this question.

what i am talking about is rigid structure in the upper atamosphere supported solely by earths gravity, this would allow aircraft to fly up there land on the inside of the ring then the people could travel on foot or by car through the ring to the outside then take a flying leap with their shuttle out into space with out risk of blowing up.

okay for the guy who just said that gravity would not support the ring and it would crumble under its own weight, here is my response to that, the ring would be just like two archs put together around the earth, this would cause it to have pressure on all sides making gravity work against itself. if you think it will collapse please go stare at the colosseum for a while and tell me how it stays standing

Answer 1

Yes it is possible and logical. I was just reading about one in Arthur C. Clarke's "3001" It had elevators from the surface, via 4 tubes along the equator, about 22000 miles up.

Answer 2

Yes I think this is a great idea. Think of all the energy we would save if we made a docking base for space ships in the form of a ring around the earth. If we wanted to go to space, we would take an elevator to the ring and sit comfortably in our space ships which would require no more power than say 2 AA batteries to go from here to Mars. However it is always tempting to build something nicer like the rings of Saturn which would be quite expensive and would attract too much attention from space aliens who may not be totally friendly. While we are at it, I also would like to see giant tunnels dig through earth to facilitate travel. Instead of flying so many hours on those scary planes, we should be taking trains through the center of the earth to save time and increase safety and efficiency. By the way how about a giant sail to move earth a little further from sun to cure global warming?

Answer 3

It is enormously complicated. A ring around the earth would have to be balanced, with respect to the earth's spin axis. Not only that, it would it need to be balanced while you were contructing it.

With that said, dont be discouraged by others shooting down your idea. These unconventional ideas are often the precursors to another better idea.

What would be usefull about a large outer ring on the earth is that it could be a platform for living, creating and conducting power, etc.

If you wanted to do what you are talking about, consider this as an option. Make a mini-moon.

Answer 4

If you do the math, the earth's circumference is 25,000 miles around equator, let alone you have to be in space tens of miles above the surface.

Building a rigid ring is impossible with all the materials that need to be haul up in space and make sure they stay in space before you start assemble it. It can be billions of tons of material to make something that is rigid. To haul billons of tons of material, how many rockets are needed. That is just want too much.

I will say it may be much better to colonize moon. Build a nuclear power station or gigantic solar power station over there. And start building space stations and launch pad over there may be simpler.

Answer 5

It is logical, but it is way too much work, resouces drained and time spent.
Stationary satellites runs on a very high equatorial orbits of 22,300 miles (35900km) above earth. This is an altitude of a typical spaceship I think you would like to achieve. At least, you have to reach a couple thousand miles above to start leaving the Earth's gravitational force field.
You can estimate how much resource needed when such a plan would have to be executed by looking at the recent years skyscrapers, such as
the Empire State Building of 381m
the World Trade Center of 417m

Answer 6

Ok, the slightest bit of miscalculation would simply mean the ring will crush down on earth and end human lives. In addition, a ring around means people still has to pack explosives to their backs to make it to the ring in the first place, unless you build a huge elevator up, but do try that at home. Take out a single strand of pasta, attach one end to a pencil, and then throw tiny pieces of rice or whatever at it to see how long it lasts.

Answer 7

Gravity Does NOT Support things and this structure would crumble under its own weight. One alternative to this is a space elevator that has a cable attatched to the ground that would be able to transport things into space.

Answer 8

Sorry, dude. You need to elaborate on what that ring would do before I could truly answer that, if I could. As per your question, all I can say is that it so far doesn't make any sense.

I'm all for space journeys though. You have some reason that it would work, you just didn't explain it. Sounds funny, but it seems like you might have some sort of genius idea....

Answer 9

That's a big job, would require a lot of construction work. If this thing is doable I want a piece of that.

Answer 10

With what would you construct this ring, and how would you get to it before, during, and after construction?