Chain Flinger (nealstephenson.substack.com)

The chain robot subplot of Seveneves makes a lot more sense now :)

Doesn't even need to be an actual chain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_fountain

Related (Steve Mould has been fascinated with the centripetal physics of the chain): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcqX4UMXNKEdNBKABT3ZF...

I got my youngest a ZipString Aracna for Christmas (entirely driven by a tiny cameo in the film Weapons). It is rare that a toy for kids feels magical, but it's been a real hit over the holidays.

A related idea is to improve the efficiency of a trebuchet by stringing heavy weighted nodes along the sling line. The biggest one built so far used one 50 pound node on the sling line to launch an 8 pound pumpkin 1500 feet, but the math says it keeps working better as you add more nodes. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ruiMZYTc5HE