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[Brian Whatcott]
> I am probably missing the whole point of this puzzle which I thought was to
> posit the replacement of the Sun's gravitational attraction with a string.
>
> I visualize a string distributed to act on every Earth particle, and
> realise that this is a gravity force by another name.
> So the question turns out to be: what is the effect on space
> launches if Earth's diurnal rotation is stopped?
> I take it that one loses the advantage of equatorial launches.
> And that's about it.
>
>Isn't it?
No, it isn't at least for the following reason: With the Sun in the
picture, a launch speed that allows the object to escape from the
Earth is far too small to allow it to "escape to infinity." On the
other hand I think it *is* true that replacing the Sun with a string
does not appreciably change the required launch speed for escape from
the Earth.
--
John Mallinckrodt mailto:ajm@csupomona.edu
Cal Poly Pomona http://www.csupomona.edu/~ajm