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Space elevator tether achieves yet another baby step

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posted on Feb, 18 2006 @ 06:29 PM
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Liftport Group has achieved a small milestone in the quest to build a Ribbon that reaches all the way into space. This step to that ambitious goal was achieved using a Carbon composit tether no thicker then 6 sheets of paper which climbed a mile high lofted by 3 baloons. They plan to market this technology as a low cost communications solution for places that have no such infrastructure. The test did have problems though as the Lifter only climbed to about 460 m before stalling. They are still trying to figure out what went wrong.


www.newscientistspace.com...
To make the cable, researchers sandwiched three carbon-fibre composite strings between four sheets of fibreglass tape, creating a mile-long cable about 5 centimetres wide and no thicker than about six sheets of paper.

/snip

In March, LiftPort hopes to set up a HALE system in Utah's Mars Desert Research Station and maintain it for three weeks. Then, later in the spring, Laine says he wants to test a 2-mile (3.2-km) tether with robots scaling to at least half way up.


Please visit the link provided for the complete story.


Another baby step foward. I really hope the twin purses of 150,000 dollars in the NASA Centenial challenges gets rewarded this time around.

[edit on 18-2-2006 by sardion2000]



posted on Feb, 18 2006 @ 07:27 PM
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This is excellent news.


I'm glad there are people developing the technology that will make this thing work. It also looks like NASA will add the unclaimed money prize to the prize offered this year.



"This year's unclaimed prize money will be added to next year's, and that alone should boost the number of entrants," said Brant Sponberg, manager for NASA's Centennial Challenges program.

from www.space.com...



posted on Feb, 18 2006 @ 10:12 PM
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I never thought this sounded like a good idea.

Are we really serious about running a cable up into space? We should be focusing on new rocket propellants, not ridiculous ideas like this.

I see it as possible, but not worth it.

[edit on 18-2-2006 by ImplementOfWar]



posted on Feb, 18 2006 @ 11:48 PM
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Unless you are working on the project (one of the many groups), you are crazy to think that such a thing as a space elevator will exist in the near future. One day maybe...

I like the idea of running up these tethers to transport electricity collected from an orbiting solar farm, or making the world's best rollercoaster......

What if we could attach a tether so strong that when we attach it to a planet and connect it to another planet, it'll totally f-up the path of each planet causing an effect when which the planets begin to collide with other planets, which disrupts the entire revolutions of all planets in a solar system. THis is a good idea if we start intergalactic wars in a distant solar system.

sardion2000, you say we can buy an electron microscope for $60k?...well, let us collect some funds donated from ATS members and start making our own nano materials. No? The ATS Materials Engineering Research Center....sounds nice. I wouldn't mind living in Cananda and touching up on surface physics.



posted on Feb, 19 2006 @ 12:44 AM
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I think we are on the threshold of a new age.

The exponential effect of compounding knowledge is about to make all predictions of when future advancements will take effect to be the underwhelming of the visionless.

picoscience.8m.com...

picoscience.8m.com...

I read where a group of scientists think they can come out with a warp drive in 5 years.



posted on Feb, 19 2006 @ 08:31 AM
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sardion2000, you say we can buy an electron microscope for $60k?


You could during Bankruptsy sales during the IT Bubble Burst. I'm not so sure about now as Demand is alot higher. Check out EBay though and look around for Microelectronic Factory auctions. My point with that particular comment is that if you wait for the right time you can get just about anything for far cheaper then they are actually worth.

Right now there are thousands of Companies who call themselves Nanotech companies. There will be a fallout eventually.

[edit on 19-2-2006 by sardion2000]



posted on Feb, 19 2006 @ 08:42 AM
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Originally posted by ImplementOfWar
I never thought this sounded like a good idea.

Are we really serious about running a cable up into space? We should be focusing on new rocket propellants, not ridiculous ideas like this.

I see it as possible, but not worth it.

[edit on 18-2-2006 by ImplementOfWar]


And what is just so rediculous about it? It's much more efficient, less polluting and can haul much heavier payloads when the tether is completed.

Can the shuttle make a launch a week? Can the shuttle or a delta rocket do 1G continous acceleration?

Comparing Rockets to this is like comparing a Model T to a Ferrari




What if we could attach a tether so strong that when we attach it to a planet and connect it to another planet, it'll totally f-up the path of each planet causing an effect when which the planets begin to collide with other planets, which disrupts the entire revolutions of all planets in a solar system. THis is a good idea if we start intergalactic wars in a distant solar system.


Thinking outside the box. I like that.
I think it would be easier to just detonate a couple hundred MegaNukes near the core of a Sun or Planet.

[edit on 19-2-2006 by sardion2000]



posted on Feb, 19 2006 @ 09:14 AM
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Certain models of STMs are not expensive. As long as you aren't using a tungsten tip, and you don't have alot of versatility, a STM can go for about $10k.

nanoSurf STMs are pretty cheap, I just don't like their design whatsoever. It still gets atomic resolution, though...I imaged hexadecyl-amine (I think that's what it was) on a nanoSurf STM and got decent images (of course you need to doctor them in photoshop using Fourier analysis).







 
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