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Posted: 7/20/2014 8:20:15 PM EDT
[#1]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Contrary to what you've seen on Star Trek, there's really nothing all that interesting beyond the atmosphere that we could get to within a human's lifespan. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 8:23:55 PM EDT
[#2]
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Don't need a Space Elevator for that when a cheap rocket powered tug will do, hear me out. If we were to find an asteroid in the vicinity of Earth or one approaching, I suppose it would be cheaper to send a traditional ship out there to tether it and bring it to a Near Earth Orbit for mining. Do we need an elevator when we can just drop the mined ore into orbit? Sure getting up there will be more difficult, but the cost of a Space Elevator will far and beyond eclipse the cost of anything we have ever built in Human history. One good metal rich asteroid would change the economy of the world. tldr version: I think it would be cheaper to send a fleet of tugs out, tether and asteroid, bring it closer, set up a mining facility and drop the booty back to Earth. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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Contrary to what you've seen on Star Trek, there's really nothing all that interesting beyond the atmosphere that we could get to within a human's lifespan. I think the moon, Mars and the asteroid belt would do for starters. Plenty of territory to rape out there. Don't need a Space Elevator for that when a cheap rocket powered tug will do, hear me out. If we were to find an asteroid in the vicinity of Earth or one approaching, I suppose it would be cheaper to send a traditional ship out there to tether it and bring it to a Near Earth Orbit for mining. Do we need an elevator when we can just drop the mined ore into orbit? Sure getting up there will be more difficult, but the cost of a Space Elevator will far and beyond eclipse the cost of anything we have ever built in Human history. One good metal rich asteroid would change the economy of the world. tldr version: I think it would be cheaper to send a fleet of tugs out, tether and asteroid, bring it closer, set up a mining facility and drop the booty back to Earth. Oh, I agree. And we should have started doing that in the '70's. Or at least making progress toward such. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 8:34:00 PM EDT
[#3]
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Oh, I agree. And we should have started doing that in the '70's. Or at least making progress toward such. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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Contrary to what you've seen on Star Trek, there's really nothing all that interesting beyond the atmosphere that we could get to within a human's lifespan. I think the moon, Mars and the asteroid belt would do for starters. Plenty of territory to rape out there. Don't need a Space Elevator for that when a cheap rocket powered tug will do, hear me out. If we were to find an asteroid in the vicinity of Earth or one approaching, I suppose it would be cheaper to send a traditional ship out there to tether it and bring it to a Near Earth Orbit for mining. Do we need an elevator when we can just drop the mined ore into orbit? Sure getting up there will be more difficult, but the cost of a Space Elevator will far and beyond eclipse the cost of anything we have ever built in Human history. One good metal rich asteroid would change the economy of the world. tldr version: I think it would be cheaper to send a fleet of tugs out, tether and asteroid, bring it closer, set up a mining facility and drop the booty back to Earth. Oh, I agree. And we should have started doing that in the '70's. Or at least making progress toward such. The asteroid belt alone has untold gazillabillions (I just made that word up) worth of dollars out there in rare metals, but it is just going to take a small fraction of that to get it back here, and that in itself is going to be a remarkably expensive task. My solution would be to let free enterprise take care of the issue. Let corporations design, plan, build and eventually launch mining expeditions to the "Outer Realms" and let mankind's spirit of exploration and exploitation take over. We would be mining the asteroids in 20 years and exploring the universe in 100 years if we only were to unlock humanities desire to explore and witness the unknown. Imagine, an entire asteroid or series of asteroids mined, built up and created as places where people who craved adventure and excitement could go, a New World, an unknown frontier. My God, imagine how many of us would want to go! |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 8:53:42 PM EDT
[#4]
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Space elevator is the stupidest way to get into space I have ever seen. We do not have material yet to make it or any way to erect it. A completed elevator would cross through every orbit possible to an altitude a bit above geosync creating a collision hazard for all those satellites below the counter weight at the top. Its 22000 mile to geosyne where you get off, at 1000mph it takes a day to get there. What are you using to propel the elevator car up the ribbon over that great distance. Retarded idea! You've just rattled off a list of engineering problems that need solving rather than the list of reasons not to do it that you intended. There are reasons one could come up with not to do it, but you whiffed on that big time. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 8:54:35 PM EDT
[#5]
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A catapult would make more sense IMO. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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So we have all the technology to build a working space elevator. Why do you think no ones built one yet? Is it simply because no believes its of any value? A catapult would make more sense IMO. I think the acceleration required for that to work would be a back deal breaker. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 8:56:12 PM EDT
[#6]
The technology?
Can you even fathom the shear forces on a structure that tall? Let alone trying to support it's own weight. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 9:00:30 PM EDT
[#7]
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I think the acceleration required for that to work would be a back deal breaker. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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So we have all the technology to build a working space elevator. Why do you think no ones built one yet? Is it simply because no believes its of any value? A catapult would make more sense IMO. I think the acceleration required for that to work would be a back deal breaker. You'd launch bulk stuff to orbit w/ the catapult, but would probably have to send people and fragile stuff via rocket. Lots of things like construction supplies and oxygen/fuel would be suitable for a catapult. If all you had to send via rocket was fragile items and people you'd small rockets instead of heavy lift. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 9:11:39 PM EDT
[#8]
A space elevator for moon orbit is within current technology. Just get to lunar orbit and it could make lunar transport relatively easy.
It's a good way to work out bugs while developing technology for an earth based one. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 9:23:16 PM EDT
[#9]
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So we have all the technology to build a working space elevator. Think so huh? 
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Posted: 7/20/2014 9:24:29 PM EDT
[#10]
I think a non rocket system for getting stuff into space is much more realistic..
Some kind of hybrid rocket / mag-lev system.. Like a tunnel 20 miles long that can accelerate let's say a 1 ton moduadule to escape volicty.. Fill the tunnel with a light gas or vaccume like they do for rocket sleds.. Get the heavy work done 1 shot at a time.. Move people with conventional rockets... We could do that right now.. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 9:30:56 PM EDT
[#11]
Tech is not there yet for an elevator.
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Posted: 7/20/2014 9:48:45 PM EDT
[#12]
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I think a non rocket system for getting stuff into space is much more realistic.. Some kind of hybrid rocket / mag-lev system.. Like a tunnel 20 miles long that can accelerate let's say a 1 ton moduadule to escape volicty.. Fill the tunnel with a light gas or vaccume like they do for rocket sleds.. Get the heavy work done 1 shot at a time.. Move people with conventional rockets... We could do that right now.. Fucking brililant! Never occured to me that there as an alternative to rockets that actually exists now as a feasible tech. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 9:56:28 PM EDT
[#13]
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Elevator isn't really what you need , more like a funicular. The cars coming down loaded with ore from mining the asteroids would pull the cars up the cable to the orbital station. Once it was built and running the power for its operation would basically be free. Space flight gets a lot cheaper once we have manufacturing in orbit. Till then its gonna be expensive, and lifting stuff to orbit will always be expensive. Barring some new sort of propulsion. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 9:57:46 PM EDT
[#14]
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To get away from all these motherfuckers. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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Why climb mount everest for a cup of ice when you live on a glacier? To get away from all these motherfuckers. Much of North America is completely uninhabited and still more of it is very sparsely populated. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 9:58:06 PM EDT
[#15]
When "space elevator" becomes the cheapest means of getting stuff into space (don't hold your breathe, its a dumb concept), it will be built.
Until then it's a ridiculous napkin concept that doesn't put out when cost is factored in. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 10:11:29 PM EDT
[#16]
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Much of North America is completely uninhabited and still more of it is very sparsely populated. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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Why climb mount everest for a cup of ice when you live on a glacier? To get away from all these motherfuckers. Much of North America is completely uninhabited and still more of it is very sparsely populated. Go try mining for gold using mercury in a completely uninhabited part of North America... Betcha a shitload of motherfuckers show up. 
And don't even dare try to graze an animal or otherwise make a living off of said uninhabited land. I see motherfuckers. They're everywhere. And they don't even know they're motherfuckers. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 10:15:10 PM EDT
[#17]
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Uh, no, that isn't how it works. Orbits are three dimensional. An orbit at a lower orbit does not inherently conflict with an elevator. Quote HistoryQuoted:
A completed elevator would cross through every orbit possible to an altitude a bit above geosync creating a collision hazard for all those satellites below the counter weight at the top. Uh, no, that isn't how it works. Orbits are three dimensional. An orbit at a lower orbit does not inherently conflict with an elevator. Orbits above geosynchronous don't. Geosynchronous orbits don't. Most orbits below geosynchronous eventually will pass over all equatorial points, and thus slam into the elevator unless captured, removed from orbit, or make a minor orbit change. Or - your elevator could bend. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 10:16:46 PM EDT
[#18]
Make enough elevators and you won't need satellites.
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Posted: 7/20/2014 10:22:16 PM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Go try mining for gold using mercury in a completely uninhabited part of North America... Betcha a shitload of motherfuckers show up.
And don't even dare to to graze an animal or otherwise make a living off of said uninhabited land. I see motherfuckers. They're everywhere. And they don't even know they're motherfuckers. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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Why climb mount everest for a cup of ice when you live on a glacier? To get away from all these motherfuckers. Much of North America is completely uninhabited and still more of it is very sparsely populated. Go try mining for gold using mercury in a completely uninhabited part of North America... Betcha a shitload of motherfuckers show up.
And don't even dare to to graze an animal or otherwise make a living off of said uninhabited land. I see motherfuckers. They're everywhere. And they don't even know they're motherfuckers. Plenty of ranchers graze their animals on BLM land. But I see your point. Unfortunately, by the time anyone can reasonably get off the planet, the Federal government will have already put up a no trespassing sign. Under our current system, if the Moon were to start colonizing tomorrow, no private citizen would be allowed to own a single acre of it. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 10:23:53 PM EDT
[#20]
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Orbits above geosynchronous don't. Geosynchronous orbits don't. Most orbits below geosynchronous eventually will pass over all equatorial points, and thus slam into the elevator unless captured, removed from orbit, or make a minor orbit change. Or - your elevator could bend. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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A completed elevator would cross through every orbit possible to an altitude a bit above geosync creating a collision hazard for all those satellites below the counter weight at the top. Uh, no, that isn't how it works. Orbits are three dimensional. An orbit at a lower orbit does not inherently conflict with an elevator. Orbits above geosynchronous don't. Geosynchronous orbits don't. Most orbits below geosynchronous eventually will pass over all equatorial points, and thus slam into the elevator unless captured, removed from orbit, or make a minor orbit change. Or - your elevator could bend. Conflicts may happen, but they will be random events where two otherwise divergent paths briefly intersect. An object simply orbiting below does not guarantee conflict. Orbits are big. Most objects are small. The number of completed orbits required for a conflict may be spectacularly high. The occasional conflict could be solved with a terawatt class orbital cannon, I mean debris removal tool.
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Posted: 7/20/2014 10:24:01 PM EDT
[#21]
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Plenty of ranchers graze their animals on BLM land. But I see your point. Unfortunately, by the time anyone can reasonably get off the planet, the Federal government will have already put up a no trespassing sign. Under our current system, if the Moon were to start colonizing tomorrow, no private citizen would be allowed to own a single acre of it. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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Why climb mount everest for a cup of ice when you live on a glacier? To get away from all these motherfuckers. Much of North America is completely uninhabited and still more of it is very sparsely populated. Go try mining for gold using mercury in a completely uninhabited part of North America... Betcha a shitload of motherfuckers show up.
And don't even dare to to graze an animal or otherwise make a living off of said uninhabited land. I see motherfuckers. They're everywhere. And they don't even know they're motherfuckers. Plenty of ranchers graze their animals on BLM land. But I see your point. Unfortunately, by the time anyone can reasonably get off the planet, the Federal government will have already put up a no trespassing sign. Under our current system, if the Moon were to start colonizing tomorrow, no private citizen would be allowed to own a single acre of it. Of course not.. Spain would sue ou for it.. And win.. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 10:26:06 PM EDT
[#22]
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Plenty of ranchers graze their animals on BLM land. But I see your point. Unfortunately, by the time anyone can reasonably get off the planet, the Federal government will have already put up a no trespassing sign. Under our current system, if the Moon were to start colonizing tomorrow, no private citizen would be allowed to own a single acre of it. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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Why climb mount everest for a cup of ice when you live on a glacier? To get away from all these motherfuckers. Much of North America is completely uninhabited and still more of it is very sparsely populated. Go try mining for gold using mercury in a completely uninhabited part of North America... Betcha a shitload of motherfuckers show up.
And don't even dare to to graze an animal or otherwise make a living off of said uninhabited land. I see motherfuckers. They're everywhere. And they don't even know they're motherfuckers. Plenty of ranchers graze their animals on BLM land. But I see your point. Unfortunately, by the time anyone can reasonably get off the planet, the Federal government will have already put up a no trespassing sign. Under our current system, if the Moon were to start colonizing tomorrow, no private citizen would be allowed to own a single acre of it. True enough. It's a nice dream though. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 10:26:38 PM EDT
[#23]
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Best sci-fi description of working elevators I've read was in Kim Stanley Robinson's "Red Mars". An even better book where the entire plot is based on building a space elevator: 
Wiki summary I don't think the technology's there yet, but only on the tower structure. Materials aren't up to the task for the stresses involved in a 40,000 km tower. The rest is just engineering and funding--and the latter is the biggest problem of the two. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 10:33:32 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Potential reward on investment is likely low. There's not so much going on @ geosynchronous orbit that can't be done w/ conventional chemical rockets far cheaper than a space elevator. And then you've got to pay Space Elevator Operator Union wages.  Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: So we have all the technology to build a working space elevator. Why do you think no ones built one yet? Is it simply because no believes its of any value? Potential reward on investment is likely low. There's not so much going on @ geosynchronous orbit that can't be done w/ conventional chemical rockets far cheaper than a space elevator. And then you've got to pay Space Elevator Operator Union wages.  |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 10:46:34 PM EDT
[#25]
Space elevators are a cool idea (or maybe not), but one of their supposed major innovators will never deliver on anything.
I used to work for the CEO of LiftPort Group, Michael Laine. The guy has never delivered on anything that he's ever promised. Nothing, ever. I worked for him several years after this article was written. None of the products he talks about in this article ever materialized. http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/1996/nov/06/a-walk-down-teknology-lane/?print=1 and by the time I worked for him, his company was so under water that he refused to pay me for the better part of a year, until my dad (I was still in high school) walked into his office one day and threatened to sue him if he didn't cut me a check immediately. LiftPort group's pie-in-the-sky designs and drawings are still featured prominently in many space elevator articles and publications. Where are their products? Nonexistant. Laine has figured out how to get people who like whizbang space tech to write him checks that he'll never deliver on, and that's what he does. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 11:02:29 PM EDT
[#26]
What happens when you get stuck on the 87,000th floor?
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Posted: 7/20/2014 11:05:38 PM EDT
[#27]
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Fucking brililant! Never occured to me that there as an alternative to rockets that actually exists now as a feasible tech. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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I think a non rocket system for getting stuff into space is much more realistic.. Some kind of hybrid rocket / mag-lev system.. Like a tunnel 20 miles long that can accelerate let's say a 1 ton moduadule to escape volicty.. Fill the tunnel with a light gas or vaccume like they do for rocket sleds.. Get the heavy work done 1 shot at a time.. Move people with conventional rockets... We could do that right now.. Fucking brililant! Never occured to me that there as an alternative to rockets that actually exists now as a feasible tech. Try reading "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress." He's got a good case for catapults in there. |
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Posted: 7/20/2014 11:52:39 PM EDT
[#28]
What if the elevator is built on a treadmill?
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Posted: 7/21/2014 12:48:33 AM EDT
[#29]
We only need enough to get people out to the asteroids. Then, they can mine whatever it is people want to mine. In order to get it back, they can then form a giant solid ball of the materials, like, a kilometer across, and fire it straight back at Earth at supersonic speeds. The giant ball of solid metal will crash through the atmosphere and impact somewhere unimportant, like Canada. We can then "re-mine" the metals from the craters.
What could possibly go wrong?  |
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Posted: 7/21/2014 4:16:16 AM EDT
[#30]
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We only need enough to get people out to the asteroids. Then, they can mine whatever it is people want to mine. In order to get it back, they can then form a giant solid ball of the materials, like, a kilometer across, and fire it straight back at Earth at supersonic speeds. The giant ball of solid metal will crash through the atmosphere and impact somewhere unimportant, like Canada. We can then "re-mine" the metals from the craters. What could possibly go wrong? You would need a funicular type design. Think of a chainsaw blade, not an elevator. The weight of the cars coming down would pull the other cars upward, the only energy expended would be life support or when going up with little or no downward cargo. The lift side might have to wait till we could get product coming down. Give those damn miners some encouragement to work if they can't get air and food till they ship us some minerals. Also Heinleins "Jack and the beanstalk" was based on the top of the highest mountain on earth to save costs. It also gets blown up by terrorists, so there. |
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Posted: 7/21/2014 4:33:07 AM EDT
[#31]
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Bullshit. Building a simple wall on our border with Mexico is too complex and costs too much. There is no way we can build a space elevator. .....at least with fucking democrats in charge. Yeah, it pisses me off that Obama stopped work on the wall that Reagan started, and Bush almost finished. Democrats aren't the problem. |
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Posted: 7/21/2014 4:45:04 AM EDT
[#32]
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Conflicts may happen, but they will be random events where two otherwise divergent paths briefly intersect. An object simply orbiting below does not guarantee conflict. Orbits are big. Most objects are small. The number of completed orbits required for a conflict may be spectacularly high. The occasional conflict could be solved with a terawatt class orbital cannon, I mean debris removal tool. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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A completed elevator would cross through every orbit possible to an altitude a bit above geosync creating a collision hazard for all those satellites below the counter weight at the top. Uh, no, that isn't how it works. Orbits are three dimensional. An orbit at a lower orbit does not inherently conflict with an elevator. Orbits above geosynchronous don't. Geosynchronous orbits don't. Most orbits below geosynchronous eventually will pass over all equatorial points, and thus slam into the elevator unless captured, removed from orbit, or make a minor orbit change. Or - your elevator could bend. Conflicts may happen, but they will be random events where two otherwise divergent paths briefly intersect. An object simply orbiting below does not guarantee conflict. Orbits are big. Most objects are small. The number of completed orbits required for a conflict may be spectacularly high. The occasional conflict could be solved with a terawatt class orbital cannon, I mean debris removal tool. We have dreamers here talking about mining asteroids for materials, and not one of them has mentioned mining the trash out of near Earth orbit to not only recover valuable materials, but materials that have already been refined. |
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Posted: 7/21/2014 5:05:41 AM EDT
[#33]
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Go try mining for gold using mercury in a completely uninhabited part of North America... Betcha a shitload of motherfuckers show up.
And don't even dare try to graze an animal or otherwise make a living off of said uninhabited land. I see motherfuckers. They're everywhere. And they don't even know they're motherfuckers. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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Why climb mount everest for a cup of ice when you live on a glacier? To get away from all these motherfuckers. Much of North America is completely uninhabited and still more of it is very sparsely populated. Go try mining for gold using mercury in a completely uninhabited part of North America... Betcha a shitload of motherfuckers show up.
And don't even dare try to graze an animal or otherwise make a living off of said uninhabited land. I see motherfuckers. They're everywhere. And they don't even know they're motherfuckers. This. |
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Posted: 7/21/2014 5:06:55 AM EDT
[#34]
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We have dreamers here talking about mining asteroids for materials, and not one of them has mentioned mining the trash out of near Earth orbit to not only recover valuable materials, but materials that have already been refined. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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A completed elevator would cross through every orbit possible to an altitude a bit above geosync creating a collision hazard for all those satellites below the counter weight at the top. Uh, no, that isn't how it works. Orbits are three dimensional. An orbit at a lower orbit does not inherently conflict with an elevator. Orbits above geosynchronous don't. Geosynchronous orbits don't. Most orbits below geosynchronous eventually will pass over all equatorial points, and thus slam into the elevator unless captured, removed from orbit, or make a minor orbit change. Or - your elevator could bend. Conflicts may happen, but they will be random events where two otherwise divergent paths briefly intersect. An object simply orbiting below does not guarantee conflict. Orbits are big. Most objects are small. The number of completed orbits required for a conflict may be spectacularly high. The occasional conflict could be solved with a terawatt class orbital cannon, I mean debris removal tool. We have dreamers here talking about mining asteroids for materials, and not one of them has mentioned mining the trash out of near Earth orbit to not only recover valuable materials, but materials that have already been refined. The first step to going to the astroroids will be building ships, probably in orbit. Cleaning up the usable "space junk" will provide the first materials for some of this. |
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Posted: 7/21/2014 5:32:24 AM EDT
[#35]
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Forget the elevator. How about a threadmill to the moon? Mind. Fucking. Blown. |
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Posted: 7/21/2014 5:36:48 AM EDT
[#36]
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Because Muslims would blow it up? Because the feds won't allow it to be built by private ventures because the fed would want to control it, and won't spend taxpayer money on it because the free shit army needs to be bribed to not riot? Sadly, this. |
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Posted: 7/21/2014 5:37:47 AM EDT
[#37]
Meh, some asshole will just press every button on the thing right before he gets off.
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Posted: 7/21/2014 5:45:02 AM EDT
[#38]
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Meh, some asshole will just press every button on the thing right before he gets off. And bust ass something fierce. |
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Posted: 7/21/2014 6:06:15 AM EDT
[#39]
Biggest terrorist target in the world.
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Posted: 7/21/2014 6:09:25 AM EDT
[#40]
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A catapult would make more sense IMO. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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So we have all the technology to build a working space elevator. Why do you think no ones built one yet? Is it simply because no believes its of any value? A catapult would make more sense IMO. Rail gun. |
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Posted: 7/21/2014 6:57:24 AM EDT
[#41]
Kevin Spacey should be the operator and tour guide.
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Posted: 7/21/2014 7:12:55 AM EDT
[#42]
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Rail gun. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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So we have all the technology to build a working space elevator. Why do you think no ones built one yet? Is it simply because no believes its of any value? A catapult would make more sense IMO. Rail gun. Yep. Rail gun or something similar. Launches limited by power, the amount of time they spend in the launcher and the orbit you put them in. It'd also be at ground level instead of literally going to the sky where any idiot w/ a high powered laser could burn it down once they become available. I don't see a beanstalk as being feasible in the world we live in. Someone would take it down. |
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Posted: 7/21/2014 7:39:10 AM EDT
[#43]
One more time, every satellite (and all that space junk) below the altitude of the counter weight (located some where above geosynchronous) and not in geosynchronous orbit will eventually have a close encounter with the fucking stupid ass space elevator. EVERY ONE OF THEM! Some objects in the higher orbits may only have a close call ever few years, others will likely get close enough to worry every few weeks to even days. That huge cloud of shit in inclined low earth orbit crossed the equator at least once an hour. (Remember the ISS in LEO has a 90 minute orbit crossing the equator twice in that time). Very little of that shit can maneuver to miss the elevator and the stuff that can maneuver will drastically reduce its lifetime in orbit dodging the space elevator. A low earth object that does strike the elevator will do so at somewhere between 4.7 and 10.9 km/s (10,500 - 24,400 mph). Even small trash (too small to be seen on ground base radar) will do significant damage at those velocities. For this and a bunch of other reasons a space elevator is a really stupid way to get to orbit. |
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Posted: 7/21/2014 7:39:11 AM EDT
[#44]
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Biggest terrorist target in the world. Build it in the middle of nowhere in the pacific ocean. Buy yourself a few radars and a few SAMs. Call it good. |
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Posted: 7/21/2014 7:49:32 AM EDT
[#45]
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http://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/photogallery/beehives/GEO640.jpg One more time, every satellite (and all that space junk) below the altitude of the counter weight (located some where above geosynchronous) and not in geosynchronous orbit will eventually have a close encounter with the fucking stupid ass space elevator. EVERY ONE OF THEM! Some objects in the higher orbits may only have a close call ever few years, others will likely get close enough to worry every few weeks to even days. That huge cloud of shit in inclined low earth orbit crossed the equator at least once an hour. (Remember the ISS in LEO has a 90 minute orbit crossing the equator twice in that time). Very little of that shit can maneuver to miss the elevator and the stuff that can maneuver will drastically reduce is life time in orbit dodging the space elevator. A low earth object that does strike the elevator will do so at somewhere between 4.7 and 10.9 km/s (10,500 - 24,400 mph). Even small (too small to be seen on ground base radar) trash will do significant damage at those velocities. For this any a bunch of other reasons a space elevator is a really stupid way to get to orbit. Someone has never actually simulated a space debris field, and thus does not yet grasp how big an orbit really is. How big is the elevator? How big is the orbiting object? How many times do those two combined sizes fit in the objects orbit? That will start to give you an idea as to why this isn't a problem. Not only must the orbiting object pass through the latitude of the elevator (which, depending on orbit, may never even happen), it must do so at the exact moment the elevators longitude intercepts the orbit. The odds of such a combination event are tiny. Further, most space junk is tiny and could be zapped with a laser, at least enough to alter its orbit to a non-conflict. |
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Posted: 7/21/2014 7:54:07 AM EDT
[#46]
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Sadly, this was the highlight of my day. Thanks Quote HistoryQuoted:
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Space elevator is the stupidest way to get into space I have ever seen. We do not have material yet to make it or any way to erect it. A completed elevator would cross through every orbit possible to an altitude a bit above geosync creating a collision hazard for all those satellites below the counter weight at the top. Its 22000 mile to geosyne where you get off, at 1000mph it takes a day to get there. What are you using to propel the elevator car up the ribbon over that great distance. Retarded idea! Uh you don't need anything to propel you up. You wait till the Earth rotates upside down and you fall down to the top duh. Sadly, this was the highlight of my day. Thanks 87 I got quite the chuckle out of it. |
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Posted: 7/21/2014 7:54:48 AM EDT
[#47]
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Depends on what you define as interesting. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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Contrary to what you've seen on Star Trek, there's really nothing all that interesting beyond the atmosphere that we could get to within a human's lifespan. Depends on what you define as interesting. Do you even Helium 3 bro? There's enough of that shit on the moon to provide clean power for the planet for centuries. |
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Posted: 7/21/2014 7:54:54 AM EDT
[#48]
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So we have all the technology to build a working space elevator. Why do you think no ones built one yet? Is it simply because no believes its of any value? 1) I don't think we have the technology to accomplish that yet, 2) Assuming we do, I don't think the cost vs reward ratio is good enough yet. |
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Posted: 7/21/2014 7:57:25 AM EDT
[#49]
Quoted: So we have all the technology to build a working space elevator. Why do you think no ones built one yet? Is it simply because no believes its of any value? Um, no. We don't. We aren't even all that close to it. Even when we do have it, the cost is going to be (pardon the pun) astronomical. There are MAJOR engineering and materials challenges before we can build the structures required. I think there are better ideas out there for low-cost LEO delivery, actually.
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Posted: 7/21/2014 8:00:02 AM EDT
[#50]
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Build it in the middle of nowhere in the pacific ocean. Buy yourself a few radars and a few SAMs. Call it good. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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Biggest terrorist target in the world. Build it in the middle of nowhere in the pacific ocean. Buy yourself a few radars and a few SAMs. Call it good. Probably want to build it in Ecuador, where there's a nice tall mountain on the equator already. |
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