What Earth would look like with Rings like Saturn.

Hauk

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=75e_1258653471

Akin to a Dune novel, but a good watch nonetheless.

Enjoy

the_syco

I'd wonder what effect the shadow of the rings would have, if any?

AlmightyCushion

How would this have affected space travel for us? Most launches take place close to the equator so I imagine we'd have to launch further away to avoid the rings. Also would it be safe to have things like satellites and the ISS in orbit if we had rings. I imagine they could keep them in an orbit that would avoid the rings but I am curious.

jumpguy

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

How would this have affected space travel for us? Most launches take place close to the equator so I imagine we'd have to launch further away to avoid the rings. Also would it be safe to have things like satellites and the ISS in orbit if we had rings. I imagine they could keep them in an orbit that would avoid the rings but I am curious.

That's a very, very interesting thought.

The ISS orbits at about 260km above the Earth. Saturns rings are not very dense that close the planet. They'd still pose a risk though, as there'd be alot more micro-particles around. It would greatly complicate any mission beyond Low Earth Orbit though. It is more efficient to launch a rocket nearer to the equator. Geostationary orbits would be extraordinarily difficult/impossible to achieve without severe buffeting. I'd say it'd have hindered human space exploration significantly. Any manned mission outside Earth orbit (like to the moon) would be made so risky, it nearly wouldn't be feasible.

AlmightyCushion

jumpguy wrote: »

That's a very, very interesting thought.

The ISS orbits at about 260km above the Earth. Saturns rings are not very dense that close the planet. They'd still pose a risk though, as there'd be alot more micro-particles around. It would greatly complicate any mission beyond Low Earth Orbit though. It is more efficient to launch a rocket nearer to the equator. Geostationary orbits would be extraordinarily difficult/impossible to achieve without severe buffeting. I'd say it'd have hindered human space exploration significantly. Any manned mission outside Earth orbit (like to the moon) would be made so risky, it nearly wouldn't be feasible.

Would launching from somewhere relatively far away from the equator not mean that we'd avoid the rings altogether and thus be fairly safe? Yeah it would be more expensive but it should be safe.

jumpguy

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Would launching from somewhere relatively far away from the equator not mean that we'd avoid the rings altogether and thus be fairly safe? Yeah it would be more expensive but it should be safe.

Yes, but you'd still have the problem in High Earth Orbit. Any satellite would still have to pass through the particles. There is little use of geostationary orbit at high latitudes (who wants Sky TV on the North Pole?). Even though it would be possible to angle the satellites to get maximum southerly coverage (assuming launch is northerly), it wouldn't get that far south.
Also, the get geostationary/out of earth's influence requires massive amounts of fuel as it is (look at Saturn V, which was huge). Launching from a northerly latitude or changing the orbit in space would require an extremely heavy and complicated launch. There's still a higher risk of microparticles too.

Basically, with the rings, I'd imagine things like international telephone calls, weather satellites, satellite TV, Iridium (global mobile phone service) and GPS would be impossible. Outer space exploration would be greatly hindered for many more years.

EDIT: Actually, you might attempt to go through a gap to get out of orbit.

marky boii

It would look weird but we would get used to it