Thoth Technology and the Space Elevator

This isn't what i thought it would be.

I was thinking "Thoth the Atlantean"

Why not do the David Brin thing, make it hollow and send spacecraft to the top with helium balloons?

originally posted by: Bedlam
Why not do the David Brin thing, make it hollow and send spacecraft to the top with helium balloons?

Because the Earth's gravity makes sure our atmosphere (which allows helium balloons to float up) stay close to the surface? I'm sure you've seen what happens to helium balloons launched into top layers of the atmosphere: they expand until they burst. Even if they are made not to burst, at the top of the atmosphere density gradient will equalise and the balloon will stop rising.

originally posted by: wildespace

originally posted by: Bedlam
Why not do the David Brin thing, make it hollow and send spacecraft to the top with helium balloons?

Because the Earth's gravity makes sure our atmosphere (which allows helium balloons to float up) stay close to the surface? I'm sure you've seen what happens to helium balloons launched into top layers of the atmosphere: they expand until they burst. Even if they are made not to burst, at the top of the atmosphere density gradient will equalise and the balloon will stop rising.

In Brin's version, the insides of the tower are pressurized. This keeps it rigid.

See also: vanilla needle. The op is actually something that's been tossed around for decades

eta: we used to design instruments for General Lord's near-space balloon flights.

Japan already on it.. From last years news:

Japanese company plans space elevator by 2050 - CNET - Sept. 23, 2014


And from my city and even further back in time....

Seattle Team Wins $900,000 in Space Elevator Contest - Space.com - Nov. 6, 2009

A Seattle-based team has won $900,000 in this year's Space Elevator Games, a NASA-sponsored contest to build machines powered by laser beams that can climb a cable in the sky.

The homemade cable-climber built by the team LaserMotive of Washington state climbed a 3,000-foot (900-meter) tether suspended by a helicopter at a speed of about 8 mph (13 kph) during a Wednesday attempt. The entry ultimately managed to climb the cable four times in two days, with a best time of about 3 minutes and 48 seconds.

The feat was the best performance yet of a miniature space elevator prototype and qualified LaserMotive to win the second-level prize of NASA?s $2 million Power Beaming Challenge this week at the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in the California desert. The contest requires competitors to beam power from a remote source to propel their vehicles up a 1/4-inch thick steel cable dangling from a helicopter.

The 2009 Space Elevator Games are the first in which prize money has been awarded and has "been a very successful competition," said NASA's Centennial Challenges director Andy Petro. "Power beaming is truly a 21st century technology."

The good news is with so many people and nations working on the same idea someone is bound to do it (as was the case with the car and airplane).

originally posted by: JadeStar
Japan already on it.. From last years news:

Japanese company plans space elevator by 2050 - CNET - Sept. 23, 2014


And from my city and even further back in time....

Dr Ron Finnila came up with the idea in the op in 1979.

originally posted by: Bedlam

originally posted by: JadeStar
Japan already on it.. From last years news:

Japanese company plans space elevator by 2050 - CNET - Sept. 23, 2014


And from my city and even further back in time....

Dr Ron Finnila came up with the idea in the op in 1979.

Before carbon nanotubes or other materials which would be necessary to build it. Remarkable.

originally posted by: JadeStar

originally posted by: Bedlam

originally posted by: JadeStar
Japan already on it.. From last years news:

Japanese company plans space elevator by 2050 - CNET - Sept. 23, 2014


And from my city and even further back in time....

Dr Ron Finnila came up with the idea in the op in 1979.

Before carbon nanotubes or other materials which would be necessary to build it. Remarkable.

I meant the structure in the OP. Finnila's description is nearly identical. But as far as space elevators go, I've seen it also, just with descriptions of what the necessary materials would have to be like.