Space Elevators Shoot for Stars - Polidicks

Didn't see this on here, so I figured I'd post it: [quote=CNN.com] The annals of entrepreneurship are full of world-changing ideas, pipe dreams and visionary projects plagued by missteps and skepticism. Then there's the space elevator, which is all of the above on steroids. If you don't know what the heck a space elevator is, you're not alone. In a Fortune Small Business/Zogby International survey of U.S. entrepreneurs, 69% were unfamiliar with the term. Here's how I usually explain it: Imagine spinning around while holding a piece of string attached to a tennis ball. The string goes taut; that's centrifugal force. The same holds true for the rotating Earth. Put a counterweight in geosynchronous orbit, drop down a superstrong equivalent of that string and attach it at the equator. Voila! You have an elevator tether, up which you could run a freight car the size of a 747. (The car would be propelled by a laser beam -- that implausible technology is a column all its own.) Because it would reduce the cost of getting people and materials to space by roughly 90%, a space elevator would disrupt the $5 billion satellite-launching industry and kick-start the space tourism business. And that's just the beginning. Lift hundreds of tons of stuff into orbit every day, and suddenly all sorts of science fiction ideas become feasible: powering the entire planet with energy from orbital solar power farms, mining the asteroid belt, building zero-G hotels, sailing the solar winds to the moon or Mars, disposing of our radioactive waste by shooting it into the sun -- you name it. Earlier this year I attended the Space Elevator Conference, held on the Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) campus in Redmond, Wash. It was like a gathering of aircraft inventors in the 19th century: a bunch of obsessives who are used to getting laughed out of the room. Take conference organizer Michael Laine, who refinanced his home and office building seven times to build a space elevator company called LiftPort, an enterprise he had to mothball for several years and is now restarting. "There's a reason I'm still single," notes the dapper Laine, 42. "Who wants to be with a guy who literally bets the mortgage on a long shot?" The long shot is getting shorter all the time. In September a team of physics professors from York University in Toronto showed how they could build a tether made of Kevlar and inflate it with helium. The catch: It could reach an altitude of only 12 miles, making it more suitable as a communications tower than an elevator to the stars. (Still, tourists could see the Earth's curvature from the top.) The main trouble with a true space elevator is that we don't yet have materials strong enough to build the cable. The miracle fiber known as carbon nanotubes is getting stronger by the year and is already being used for body armor. If progress continues at the current rate, we should be able to build an elevator-ready tether in a decade or so. But if not, all bets are off. Then there's the funding problem (estimated elevator price tag: $20 billion, or about a fortieth of the economic stimulus package). So far NASA has ponied up $4 million toward Elevator: 2010, an annual challenge that consists partly of teams competing to build the strongest tether. Japan's space agency has committed itself to the goal of building a space elevator, which it thinks it can do for $10 billion -- though it hasn't yet set a Kennedyesque deadline. Most elevator entrepreneurs hope to achieve their dream without government help. So they write papers, construct action matrices, argue over equations and look for ways to fund their work with more readily commercial projects, like carbon nanotube cars and planes. Mostly they dream of the day when a steel-colored ribbon descends from the sky and finally wipes the smirks off our faces. To top of page [/quote] Source: [url]http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/07/smallbusiness/space_elevator.fsb/index.htm?cnn=yes[/url]

Space elevator? Oh gee never heard of that before, what a wacky idea! P.S. It will never work

Sounds like a waste of time and money.

[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;18817380]Sounds like a waste of time and money.[/QUOTE] Um... Not really.

sounds like a horror movie IN THE FUTURE, WHERE EVERYONE USES SPACE ELEVATORS, ONE GROUP WON'T BE SO LUCKY. *elevator shuts down* "oh god we are stuck in space in a elevator" "SPACE ELEVATORS" *Serial killer shown*

[QUOTE=smurfy;18817342]Space elevator? Oh gee never heard of that before, what a wacky idea! P.S. It will never work[/QUOTE] I never understood how you guys considered yourself qualified to say this. The article mentions agencies like NASA which naturally knows quite a bit more than you, they know the equations, the limitations, the requirements, those people know this. and you don't. So hearing people here say "Impossible" like they are rocket scientists is pretty ignorant.

[QUOTE=Tigster;18817440]I never understood how you guys considered yourself qualified to say this. The article mentions agencies like NASA which naturally knows quite a bit more than you, they know the equations, the limitations, the requirements, those people know this. and you don't. So hearing people here say "Impossible" like they are rocket scientists is pretty ignorant.[/QUOTE] This.

I just have a really bad feeling that when they build one of these things it's going to fall back to earth catastrophically.

[QUOTE=Split3ndz;18817463]I just have a really bad feeling that when they build one of these things it's going to fall back to earth catastrophically.[/QUOTE] NASA is doing it... I think they'll do enough testing.

[QUOTE=faze;18817326]Didn't see this on here, so I figured I'd post it: Source: [url]http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/07/smallbusiness/space_elevator.fsb/index.htm?cnn=yes[/url][/QUOTE] [img]http://ec2-174-129-253-143.compute-1.amazonaws.com/img/c/charliechocolate/CCFC-093.jpg[/img] take out the faghats in it and there you go, one elevator to space.

[QUOTE=w1z;18817494][img]http://ec2-174-129-253-143.compute-1.amazonaws.com/img/c/charliechocolate/CCFC-093.jpg[/img] take out the faghats in it and there you go, one elevator to space.[/QUOTE] [img]http://sheerbrandage.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/roof.jpg[/img] :colbert:

[QUOTE=faze;18817488]NASA is doing it... I think they'll do enough testing.[/QUOTE] NASA isn't perfect. [img]http://philipchandler.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/2003_Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaster.PNG[/img]

[QUOTE=Split3ndz;18817553]NASA isn't perfect. [img]http://philipchandler.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/2003_Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaster.PNG[/img][/QUOTE] An elevator is a bit more simple than a space shuttle.

It must be done... for [I][B]SCIENCE!!![/B][/I] :science:

[QUOTE=faze;18817570]An elevator is a bit more simple than a space shuttle.[/QUOTE] But sometimes elevators can get stuck in mid desenct or ascent, I wouldn't want to be stuck in an elevator in space or in Earths atmosphere :ohdear:

[QUOTE=w1z;18817590]But sometimes elevators can get stuck in mid desenct or ascent, I wouldn't want to be stuck in an elevator in space or in Earths atmosphere :ohdear:[/QUOTE] Getting people out of a stuck elevator is a little easier than saving them from a space ship burning up on re-entry, or saving them while it's exploding.

[QUOTE=w1z;18817590]But sometimes elevators can get stuck in mid desenct or ascent, I wouldn't want to be stuck in an elevator in space or in Earths atmosphere :ohdear:[/QUOTE] Even if it doesn't get stuck, you're looking at a transit time of a week or so. I think space elevators are a great idea, we should be pouring money into researching them. We could go from launch costs of $15,000+ a pound to practically zero. Even better, if you run out to the farthest end of the elevator and detach, you actually get flung out into interplanetary space, with no fuel cost at all. Most of Apollo's fuel was burned to get out of Earth orbit, it took comparatively little for lunar orbit insertion and the return to Earth.

Wait, so is this basically just a giant elevator, because I thought it said it used lasers or something.

[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;18817721]Even if it doesn't get stuck, you're looking at a transit time of a week or so. I think space elevators are a great idea, we should be pouring money into researching them. We could go from launch costs of $15,000+ a pound to practically zero. Even better, if you run out to the farthest end of the elevator and detach, you actually get flung out into interplanetary space, with no fuel cost at all. Most of Apollo's fuel was burned to get out of Earth orbit, it took comparatively little for lunar orbit insertion and the return to Earth.[/QUOTE] Uh, a week to go 12 miles? I think not.

[QUOTE=smurfy;18817342]Space elevator? Oh gee never heard of that before, what a wacky idea! P.S. It will never work[/QUOTE] It might but the idea has its merits, IMO its not the frame type lift, its just a cable and cart, that was there less area to get hit. also using high tech cables like carbon nanotubes.

I dont understand if if its a cable and cart system how it doesnt just get pulled back to earth.

[QUOTE=Frankiscool!;18817833]I dont understand if if its a cable and cart system how it doesnt just get pulled back to earth.[/QUOTE] Ever hear of a pulley system?

[QUOTE=Split3ndz;18817553]NASA isn't perfect. [img_thumb]http://philipchandler.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/2003_Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaster.PNG[/img_thumb][/QUOTE] No one is, but they're the best around so stop being a dumb as.

[QUOTE=faze;18817856]Ever hear of a pulley system?[/QUOTE] ...yea but what keeps the stuff in orbit from being pulled back?

It's connected to the pulley system, it has braking mechanisms and such.

[QUOTE=faze;18817732]Uh, a week to go 12 miles? I think not.[/QUOTE] Space is 12 miles up?

Roughly, yes, between 12 and 15 miles the atmosphere gradually ends.

No it's 50 miles. [editline]07:45PM[/editline] Also, I believe the supposed elevator is supposed to send stuff to the ISS, which is orbiting at around 220 miles.

Says who?

[QUOTE=faze;18817939]Says who?[/QUOTE] Says United States. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_space#Boundary[/url]