The New Race to Space.

[Ophiolite]

It's the one with the most recent post.

[slickinfinit]

The old 'spiders web is stronger than steel' idea was falsified a while back. As it turns out, it's not the materal that's strong but the structure.

Thats what nano technology is for to create stronger structure and the web from what I remember is to make it ultra light I could be mistaken ?

[sepultallica]

I'm not sure if you are being ironic or serious. The centre of mass of the cable is located at the geosynchronous orbit position. There is nothing 'holding it up' in the sense you imply.

Carbon nano-tubes can deliver the necessary strength. All we have to do is figure out how to produce them in sufficient length and that is just a technical problem.

I think we could even have a rudimentary elevator before we land on Mars. The estimated costs to build one are almost an order of magnitude less than a Mars mission.

 

 

that was a curve ball you just launched at me. are we talkin bout that centrifugal force and stuff?

 

the part of the cable that is in the earth's atmosphere would have have great stress and the center of gravity would be located somewhere... i was going to say something that i have no knowledge of.

 

besides, dont satellites have to orbit the eart and not remain in a fixed position in order to maintain orbit? unless it has a power source that can keep it in a fixed position indefinately. that would require some serious diesel fuel though.

[ProjectOrion]

Elevators are pipedreams. Maybe in some farflung future they could find a practical application for lunar or martian payload delivery but earths gravity well is too intense. There is also the problem of ballast. You would need a big asteroid or equivalent mass to hang Jack's beanstalk on to. That begs the question, if we are capable of moving minor planets into earth orbit(which we presently aren't due to lack of political will), then why do we need an elevator? I'm afraid elevators belong in the realm of cold fusion, warp drives, anti-matter engines and magic. Cute and fun to talk about but little more than mental masturbation really.

[Verusamore]

Orion ,

I see you are pessimistic about possibilities .

 

This was mentioned to be the same cost as to the flight of mars , so if there is a cheaper altenative for a solution then why is this invalid , people work on ways to solve problems this is what we are here for and it seems not much appreciation was given to that simple idea of a space elevator .

 

If we were not so much in a rush to develop complex technologies which suit our need for practical implictation (example on next paragraph) , then that elevator would be a means to provide a way 100s of times cheaper,faster and smarter to build something like a giant space station which then in turn could would open up a myriad of space-dev possibilities.

 

So and only then that would give us more option to open possibilities to other areas in space but it seems this 'space race' is taking toll on the dim-witted who are prepared to spend outrageous amounts of money to make a one off flights to Mars .

 

I read in the New Scientest that a guy found a cheaper,faster and smarter way to build bridges ,what surprised me was this was not a complex practical application but rather it was a complex practical 'simplication' meaning it wasn't a complex idea to create as would normal bridges be .

 

The complexity was because a complex process in the creation which allowed an acid to double the volume of a limestone surface allowed the limestone to raise its height several times on itself , not by hauling in $800 million of resources and spending years upon building it .

 

So like as the mentioned above with complexity of processes involving nanotech , then these such things are a leap in logic to convential thinking .

 

Genius Ideas are the simple ones .

[Verusamore]

oh btw ,is that u in the spaceman suit/costume ?

[Sayonara]

Looks like Doctor Evil to me.

[Ophiolite]

besides' date=' dont satellites have to orbit the eart and not remain in a fixed position in order to maintain orbit? unless it has a power source that can keep it in a fixed position indefinately. that would require some serious diesel fuel though.[/quote']Satellites in orbits close to the Earth (say 120 miles) make a single orbit in a short time: ninety minutes would be typical. The moon is 230,000 miles away and it takes a month to go round. You can imagine that there must be a distance between the two where it is going to take a day to go round. But wait, the Earth also rotates in a day.

So if we place a satellite in that orbit it will appear to remain above the same point on the equator. That's called a geostationary orbit and that's where the big communications satellites sit.

The space elevator would extend beyond this point, all carefully engineered so that the centre of gravity of the whole cable would be located on that geostationary orbit. So it would neatly orbit around the Earth at the same rate as the Earth rotates and would thus remain above a fixed point on the surface.

Hope that makes it a little clearer.

[Ophiolite]

Elevators are pipedreams...... Cute and fun to talk about but little more than mental masturbation really.

You don't find it a little ironic that someone with your nom de plume should be talking of pipedreams?

At the risk of repetition, what is it in this assessment you find unrealistic.

http://www.spaceelevator.com/docs/iac-2004/iac-04-iaa.3.8.3.01.edwards.pdf

 

Your reservations are about a decade out of date. As Arthur C. Clarke said “thirty years after everyone stops laughing it will be built”. They have stopped laughing: http://www.spaceelevator.com/docs/iac-2004/iac-04-iaa.3.8.2.01.edwards.pdf

 

[Please note that in condensed form the two links above appear to be the same, however, they are different documents.]

[Martin]

Should there be a privately owned operation to send the public to vacation in space?

 

hey people, look at the question.

 

the first question to ask is "could it turn a profit?"

 

if it couldnt make a profit for the shareholders then the other questions

are moot. you dont have to ask if it would be morally good or bad.

 

I understand that people often puke a lot when they get into zero gravity.

Does anyone know the straight dope about this?

 

I suppose one low earth orbit would be all most people would want, and that lasts what? a couple of hours or what?

 

just time to screw, if you came with your girlfriend, and look out the window.

 

Is that a vacation? or is it just some novel ride?

 

Honeymooners might want to conceive a their first child in zero gee?

 

=========

 

ANOTHER MARKETING QUESTION

 

how much is touristic access to space worth? anything else for general public consumption?

profitability is the bottom line. people are always overspending on funerals.

 

what would you pay to have your ashes distributed in an orbit around the sun?

 

distributing ashes in earth orbit should be illegal