Buleste 17:44 22nd September 2008
The thought of getting stuck in this lift (elevator to non Brits) just wigs me out.
Originally Posted by :
A mere 30 years after Arthur C. Clarke first mooted the idea of running super-thin, lightweight cables into space and tethering them to a satellite in his book The Fountains of Paradise, Japanese scientists reckon they're ready to bring all the parts together and make it happen.
For a relatively low in space travel terms bill of £5bn, the boffins think they're close to solving the carbon nanotube technology issue that could make the existence of 22,000 mile-long cables possible. That amount of rope or even Ethernet cable would snap under its own weight, but carbon nanotubes are light enough to go from Earth to a satellite. They just need to be made four-times stronger than they are today.
The Japanese scheme apparently favours stringing up an additional nanotube alongside the elevator to carry the power, allowing the cars to power themselves into space using a similar system used by the Japanese bullet trains. They are so serious about it they have registered a domain name - check out the Japan Space Elevator Association for more news. It's in Japanese, mind.
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Cortona 19:25 22nd September 2008
And drunkards returning from an evening of extra-terrestrial debauchery will pee in the corner. Which could get nasty in zero gravity...
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Submeg 22:29 22nd September 2008
Harrison 09:20 23rd September 2008
Cool! Skyhooks, beanstalks or the Tsiolkovsky tower among other names.
These have been depicted in loads of Sci-Fi novels and TV series. There was even one in Star Trek Voyager, in the episode Rise!
But my favourite use of Skyhooks was in the book Rainbow Mars.
Would be cool to see a real one actually working. Would you travel in one though?
Imagine the possibilities though. Finally you could have most more affordable space travel. People and materials transported into space via the elevator and a docking port at the other end of the tether where ships could dock. You could then have space based ships for faster travel around the Earth to other elevator docking points to take another elevator back down to the surface. Would definitely speed up travel from the UK to Australia! Although I'm not sure that is such a good idea!
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Buleste 10:42 23rd September 2008
Submeg 13:09 23rd September 2008
Harrison 14:06 23rd September 2008
POM = Prisoners Of her Majesty
So you're actually the POM mate!
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