A Case for Orbital Rings
Part 1: What the fuck is an orbital ring
An orbital ring is, in its simplest form, a structure encircling the Earth, at an altitude of 100-400km above the surface. This means it’s a massive structure sitting in space, but the term “orbital ring” implies that it’s in orbit; it’s not. It’s actually stationary with respect to the ground, spinning just slightly faster than the surface it’s over.
This means that if you were standing on one, you would be feeling approximately the same downward pull you feel on the surface (you could be up to 12% lighter depending on the altitude). If you jump off, you’ll fall to the ground – hope you packed a parachute! – but you’re not reentering since you’re not at orbital speed.
So… how does it stay up there? Normally anything that’s up in the air falls down, and even if the ring were perfectly balanced around the Earth with all the force vectors...