This is the most important CATS post ever!

Alex Terrell wrote:
AT What orbital inclination would the Earth orbiting
AT rotovator be in?

Lunar orbit. Actually, it is a bolo.

AT In theory it could be orbiting the Earth in the same
AT plane as the moon. This means that:
AT 1. The rendezvous latitude would change throughout the
AT year, shifting between the two tropics. This would
AT necessitate and air launch of the rendez-vous cargo.

I prefer a ship as the launching platform. There will be at
least 8 launches of the sounding rocket a day. It would be
difficult to launch a full size rocket launcher from a
bobbing ship, but launching the small sounding rocket
seems feasible.

AT 2. The orbit is not stable. Henry Spencer's view in
AT an earlier post was that it would be difficult, though
AT perhaps not impossible, to maintain this orbit for the
AT rotovator.

I can't find the post; perhaps my news server is at fault.
The only two stable terrestrial orbits are polar and
equatorial orbits. Every other orbit undergoes precession
due to the pear shape (geoid) of the Earth. This is not a
big problem because the annual mass of Moon dust handled
by the bolo is much larger than the mass of the bolo. If
the bolo is tilted slightly so that it throws the sacks
off the lunar plane, the precession problem is solved.

AT Note also that the rotovator is not good for reaching
AT low Earth orbits. With something like this in place
AT High Earth Orbit would rapidly become the place to be.

I had the same knee jerk reaction to this space
transportation system. It is ideal for moving cargo
between the Moon and the Earth. (Does the not-so-smart
president follow our conversation?) The only practical
way to bring the cargo from the Earth to the orbit of
the bolo is to have a small electric cart (manipulator?)
riding on the bolo and pulling the cargo to the center
of bolo's mass. The good news is that direct current
motors using Samarium Cobalt magnets and have high
power-to-weight ratio: about 7 watts per gram not
counting the gearbox. This means that the cart would be
small. Another good news is that the bolo with build
in aluminum wires is excellent round-the-clock source
of electric power due to the electrodynamic tether
effect (interaction with terrestrial magnetic field).
The used up electric power is replenished by the orbital
energy of the lunar sacks filled with Moon dust.

The full description and lunavator spacecraft picture are at:
http://www.islandone.org/LEOBiblio/S...tor_bolo_relay
mirror site:
http://www.medianet.pl/~andrew/SPBI1...tor_bolo_relay

What orbital inclination would the Earth orbiting rotovator be in?

If it's in an equatorial orbit, then except at the equinoxes, the
payloads will nt be in line with the moon.

In theory it could be orbiting the Earth in the same plane as the
moon. This means that:
1. The rendezvous latitude would change throughout the year, shifting
between the two tropics. This would necessitate and air launch of the
rendez-vous cargo.
2. The orbit is not stable. Henry Spencer's view in an earlier post
was that it would be difficult, though perhaps not impossible, to
maintain this orbit for the rotovator.

Note also that the rotovator is not good for reaching low Earth
orbits. With something like this in place High Earth Orbit would
rapidly become the place to be.