Importance

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Abstract

A rocket launch system includes a tubular rocket launcher carriage with electromotive cableway traction drives conveyed beneath a two axis pivot anchored to the earth, elevated into a co-axial transfer tube leading to three primary tether cables whose weight is offset by balloons. The carriage is conveyed to a docking station supported into the stratosphere by a pair of secondary cables suspended under an attachment frame for tensioning balloons. The carriage is engaged by a carriage end gripper guided by two sets of secondary cables and two sets of tertiary cables and lifted by a lower hoist guided by the secondary cables to a lift ring assembly. This lower hoist is supported by an upper hoist suspended from the tensioning balloons attachment frame. The carriage, which engages a lift ring guided by two secondary cables, is elevated further, rotated in azimuth and elevation, and rocket ejection occurs from a launch tube during freefall of the carriage, with engine ignition occurring at a safe distance. The carriages have traction drives which grip cables from which they derive power and rotate to drive the carriage from the low altitude to the high altitude. The traction drives rotate in the opposite direction as the carriage descends the cable following the launch of a rocket under gravitational force. The kinetic energy of the traction drive is converted to electrical energy which is fed back to the cables during descent of the carriage.

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First Claim