Attachment 1 - Air Cable Transport and Bridges

Abstract

Currently, aircraft are used to move payloads and passengers from one place to other. This method is expensive, because aircraft use expensive fuel and have high capital costs. The chapter proposes a new method for less expensive delivery of payloads and people from one city to another (similar to airlines), or across streams, rivers, canyons, and mountains. This method uses a closed-loop cable path with a propulsion system located on the ground. The system can utilize any inexpensive energy source and air vehicles or cheaper winged containers without expensive electronic equipment. This method is particularly effective for providing an air bridge across straits, or mountains, or for gas lines. It is cheaper by hundreds of times than conventional long bridges, tunnels, and gas lines. This chapter develops the theory and provides computations for two projects: airline travel from New York to Washington and New York to Paris, and air bridges such as across the Straits of Gibraltar, the English Channel, Bering Straits (Russia-America), Sakhalin-Asia, Russia-Japan, etc. Calculations are also provided for one gas line project. The proposed systems can also transfer large amounts of mechanical energy from one place to another (about 3–10 MW) with high efficiency.