Posted: 6/26/2004 7:25:30 AM EDT
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Wanna bet? I doubt it will happen in twice the amount of time. news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&u=/ap/20040625/ap_on_sc/space_elevator_3&printer=1 |
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Who butchered that article? The material exists to make a space elevator- carbon nanotube filiment But- the longest continuous filiment of CN is only 3km long. Composites dont work. No bonding agent exists that can equal the stregth of CN, a elevator would just come apart at the seams if short sections put togeather were used. We need 100,000km. But thats the "only" technical problem. In quotes because it is a show stopper. The only way a Space Elevator can work is if we learn to make CN filment 100,000km long. Theoretically possible but as you can see 3km is a long way from 100,000km Now if they had been considerate enough in the article what was discovered that had Edwards so convinced that this technical problem solved, it would be a worthwhile article. As it is its crap, bad reporting. |
I think it has a better chance of working than say SSTO space ships. Developing the rockets for a SSTO is a single use investment. If it doesn't work EXACTLY as designed you are pretty much out of your investment. Investment in developing CN WILL return even if its proven that growing a 100,000km filiment is impossible. It has so many possible uses in other industries that it WILL make money. Thus investment in this work can never be a finacial failure even if a space bridge is never made. |
It would, also making CN benifits from a inert atomosphere or vaccume. But I think we can get what we need without resorting to that. For one thing. To operate a space factory efficently we really need to have the elevator FIRST. |
I was just thinking that the orbiting factory could make the stuff and lower it to the ground. Thus constructing it as well. once completed the factory is converted to the termal for people and suplies to be put on ships they construct to head out into the solar system. |
The carbon can only come from either the Earth or the Moon. And from what we think we know about Lunar materials from the Apollo bring backs all Lunar carbon is locked up in compounds that would require chemical or thermal processing. It would be cheeper to send the finished product than the raw materials. Untill the elevator was complete that is, and then we would have to build another one on the Moon. |
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Whoops, Kentucky grew a fiber three MILES long- 5km www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?language=english&type=24119&article_id=218392162&cat=3_1 |
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just hope the anchor on the space end doesn't come off in the Red Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson the space elevator is connected to one of Mars' moons and some terrorists blow up the connecting station. the elevator comes down and wrapped around the planet a couple times |
Well the one rub in the KSR Mars trilogy (save his politics, lol) is that the space elevator he describes in his books is impossible using graphite whisker, and is of a scale considerably greater then anyone is currently talking about. Right now the largest elevator anyone is talking about is only 200 tons to orbit on a ribbon that is measured in centimeteres thickness, not meters, so if for some reason the counter weight (which would be smaller both because the elevator would be of a fraction of the size of KSRs and during deployment ripons are simultaniously unspooled from geosynchronis orbit outwards towards cis lunar space and down towards the base station on the equator. Because of that the ribbon is balanced at it's mid point in GEO and a counterweight is only needed to counter the weight of the payload coming up the elevator.) on the elevator were to detach, blow up, fall off, whatever, the ribbon would simply start to fall to earth at a reletivly low velocity since it wouldn't be returning from orbit and would fall straight down. Most of the ribbon would burn up during rentry with very little damage being done, especially since the base station would be in the Pacific on the equater, away from any population centers. You really don't need 100,000km long CNTs to build a space elevator, using the alignment methods developed at Rice using a matrix compound you could acheive more then the require strength with CNTs tens of centimeteres to meters long. I think you'll see space elevators up alot sooner then you might imagine. The trick is once the first elevator is up it becomes cheaper and faster to put up larger ones, it might be entirely possible that by 2020 a 200-500 metric ton capable elevator be operational. NASA is investing 2.5 million for space elevator development next fiscal year, and one of the guys I work with at MSFC told me that it's looking like NASA might fly a proof of concept ribbon in the 2006-2007 time frame to validate the concept. Assuming all goes well, a full scale elevator could be up and running by 2012ish. |
Duke was supposed to bring something to this weekends Space Elevator Confrence. Their may be something in the news on Monday. |
'Single stage to orbit' IMHO is overrated. Runway to orbit would be a more realistic goal, giving you all the benefits without the extra work... Take a design like 'SpaceShip One', add a detatchable jet engine pod (motors + fuel, parachutes down after breakaway) to get it airborne on it's own power, amd go... |
It won't have escape velocity, so it would re-enter the atmoshpere & go 'poof' |
There should be a slight outward moment, in order for it to not have to be adjusted when you hang 200 tons extra on it to haul up. So at low altitude (like where a plane would hit it) it should actually be possible to chase it down again and drag it back. Then just send up more cable to attach at the space end and lower down again. Satellites wouldn't be much of a problem these days. Active satellites would just steer out of the way. Inactive ones, the space junk, could be handled by sending up a small laser as the first payload. Install a couple big chemical lasers at the base station too. The crossfire should take care of the low altitude flying junk. |
That would depend where it broke. And whether you used a design with a end counterweight or balanced in the middle. |