I've been gone and away from this forum for a LONG, LONG time - sorry about that!
I also just finished typing out a long post which, when I hit "Preview", vanished into the ether and the board asked me to log in again. I blame "Firefox". So here's a MUCH shorter, and sadly less entertaining version:
If mankind ever gets around to building a large habitat in space, would it be possible to use the million-mph Birkeland Currents which power the auroras in order to spin the habitat up to the desire speed?
I assume they're too thin and tenuous for something as crude as "perimeter sails" to be of any use, but (assuming we're talking about a wheel structure and not a "bolo-on-a-cable") would charging up the exterior ring allow the hab to function as the rotor/axle of an electric motor in order to build up the necessary angular momentum?
I hope that sometime in the (unfortunately most likely very distant) future, our species will realize the dream of building massive habitats in space - the micro-world types housing cities, farms, rivers, etc., in space. So forget how to get all that mass into the correct location for now - I'm concerned about where will the power come from in order to spin it up to speed once such a thing is built.
Your thoughts?