Space Elevator in Google Earth

You`d never get me in that thing.

For one thats a long way and time to listen to elevator music not to mention that arkward silence.

Two i would not trust any compound to make the tether and unforeseen weather conditions,extreme wind speeds that could effect it eventually to fail etc.

But hey good on them if they eventually go ahead,if it does come crashing down though like a broken string from a kite many people may be in its path,maybe even countries?,so they had better get it right and we as humans are yet to do that.

Originally posted by Gman666
Look what I am saying is that I can think of many better ways to spend dollars then an elevator to space.

Really like what? More exploitation of the earths resources polluting the land even more in the process? Undersea exploitation and the ills that come with that? "Feed the Poor"?

In a hundred years it may actually be cheaper to make something in outer space as opposed to Earth based manufacturing, what does that do to the pollution equation again? Also it's not your money that's being spent(tax dollars that is). It's all been private donations by rich individuals so far(and that is in inclusion to all their other philanthropic work).

The Elevator has been estimated to cost in the tens of billions of dollars rather than the hundreds of billions of dollars NASA is gonna have to sink into a Moon base if they want to make it a reality before 2030.

If they would wait or even put resources into developing the elevator, it could bring the cost of the Moon base and Mars mission down considerably. By several orders of magnitude in fact. This technology can also be utilized like a slingshot. Imagine putting one on the moon and slinging deep space probes at speeds unheard of today.

Originally posted by Gman666
Is it just me or does this just seem like a REALLY big wast of money??? I know I can't be the last person on earth left with a brain in my dome. I mean unless this is being funded by "Privet Investors" then that is another story but it the worlds nations are to contribute then give me a break.

I completely agree. I believe the most important LONG term goal of space exploration should be to find a habitable planet or other forms of life. Presently, there are too many complications with space travel, and the government should not throw away its money to mess around with tourism.

On the other hand I would support it as a private venture and would applaud anyone who had the perseverance to finance and run something as huge as the proposed space elevator.
Tourists with money should pay, not ordinary citizens.

We're clearly not going to be sending a mission to an inhabital planet anytime soon. And if we want to get serious about space colonisation, something like the space elevator would be a boon to it. We could manufacture parts of orbital space stations, load them on the elevator, and send them up. No rockets required. We can preassemble parts of spacecraft on Earth, send them up with the space elevator to a station at the end of it, put the final peices together, and then have a spaceship that doesn't had to be designed to be able to travel through the earth's atmosphere AND THEN space.

Also, many more countries and businesses would be able to fund space programmes, without having to develop their own shuttle program.

Originally posted by gps777
Two i would not trust any compound to make the tether and unforeseen weather conditions,extreme wind speeds that could effect it eventually to fail etc.

You wouldn't have to worry, so much about the weather if you build on the equator. From the wiki link posted on the first page...

Space Elevator: Weather

In the atmosphere, the risk factors of wind and lightning come into play. The basic mitigation is location. As long as the tether's anchor remains within two degrees of the equator, it will remain in the quiet zone between the Earth's Hadley cells, where there is relatively little violent weather.

I suggest reading the info in that wiki link. A lot of the problems you and others fear have been already thought of and addressed.

Originally posted by semperfoo

Nanotechnology has been in use in products for over a decade now. The very first application was anti-scratch coatings on glasses. IT has made the move into nanoscale engineering as well, they are now talking about sub 50 nanometer fabs as being the next thing to come along.

Just to back up the above statement, see the link to the pic below of a nano-submarine used to repair bloodvessels. Amazing pic and even more amazing technology! Apologies if this is slightly off topic, but it is relevant to the fact that nano technology is coming about fast.


Nano-submarine

Thanks for your advice jra,though maybe if i bold what i wrote before it may help you,anyway just some advice.

Originally posted by gps777
Two i would not trust any compound to make the tether and unforeseen weather conditions,extreme wind speeds that could effect it eventually to fail etc.

I`ll even bold yours for you.

You wouldn't have to worry, so much about the weather if you build on the equator. From the wiki link posted on the first page...

While i`m at bolding i`ll bold wiki

Space Elevator: Weather

In the atmosphere, the risk factors of wind and lightning come into play. The basic mitigation is location. As long as the tether's anchor remains within two degrees of the equator, it will remain in the quiet zone between the Earth's Hadley cells, where there is relatively little violent weather.

Notice it does not say it doesn`t happen?or would not.

Australia here above us is the equator and where cyclones form,and very powerful thunder storms in the wet season.

I suggest reading the info in that wiki link. A lot of the problems you and others fear have been already thought of and addressed.

Of coarse it has,i do not consider these guys stupid by a long shot,i`m saying however accidents and the unforeseen do and will happen,and like always they usually go ahead and do it anyway without finding a better alternative.I`m not against the idea however i do not think it will be safe.

When something this huge relies on the weather being friendly or perfect i think its a huge mistake.You can call that ignorant if you like,i call it common sense.



[edit on 15-1-2007 by gps777]

Originally posted by kaptain disfunct
I completely agree. I believe the most important LONG term goal of space exploration should be to find a habitable planet or other forms of life. Presently, there are too many complications with space travel, and the government should not throw away its money to mess around with tourism.

Astronomy is another area altogether and will have negligible impact on manned space exploration. What's the use of knowing where a habitable planet is if it takes us decades to reach there. It won't help Earth at all either. That is too Long-Sighted.

On the other hand I would support it as a private venture and would applaud anyone who had the perseverance to finance and run something as huge as the proposed space elevator.
Tourists with money should pay, not ordinary citizens.

At some point governments are going to have to get involved as the Space Elevators will represent a strategic choke point in the geopolitical game. It's rather short-sighted to think that this can be only a private venture. I wouldn't want a Spacing Guild monopoly to happen,(ala Dune).

We need to explore our solar system first before we even think about going to other solar systems. Lots of real-estate just waiting to be made habitable by us.

I still say this smacks of tower of babyl. I don't know I don't want to get too religous or anything about this. I like the idea but that would realy freak me out and I don't know what the point would be. I guess it would be a cheaper way to get materials into space. However I think this thing would cost a lot of money to put up and I wouldent want to be the guy having to paint the top section

Can you imagine if you weren't from Earth and you saw a random giant pole sticking out of a planet?

NOVA

For those who find this concept hard to believe or understand, this is a link to the companion web page for a recent episode of NOVA Science Now that does a pretty good job explaining the Space Elevator concept in non-scientific terms.

A space elevator will benefit mankind in so many ways it’s not even fathomable.

Aside from the obvious, imagine all the other products and processes it will spawn. Carbon nanotubes are unbelievably strong and will eventually make their way into private enterprise industries.

I currently work with nanotechnology every day. If it were not for this technology you would not have your computers or ipods or cell phones, not to mention all the medical and other beneficial applications. Technologies like blu ray would not even be around if it were not for nanotechnology. Why do you think electronics are able to advance and get so small? I could go on and on!

No, this is not a waste of time. Do some research on your own and you will find how this technology is involved in your life every day.

Originally posted by jbondo
If it were not for this technology you would not have your computers or ipods or cell phones, not to mention all the medical and other beneficial applications.
........................................
No, this is not a waste of time. Do some research on your own and you will find how this technology is involved in your life every day.

Yea but as good as ipod and mobile phone tech is, I wouldn't trust it to suspend me above the Earth. If my ipod breaks down I don't have portable music for bit and I can get it repaired or replaced. A 12 month warranty ain't no good while I plummet to Earth or drift off into space.

I may sound a bit of a flat earther but we don't know what we are dealing with...long term. Who knows what happens over the life of a product? Up until some decades ago we had the wealth of experience that earlier metallurgists, carpenters or whatever the low tech material skills worker / expert was. The learnt by trial, error and disasters over history.

As new science comes in we don't have that input. Computer modeling is a poor substitute and it certainly don't always get it right. One of the main reasons is that humans are crap at inputting all the possibilities and probabilities.

We keep on getting new materials that are the canine dangly bits. History shows the weakness . As an example humble sewerage.
Where I live a few decades ago the sewerage piping was installed using some all singing and dancing modern fibre stuff instead of clay pipe. It was the wondercure for sewerage profesionals. It was quicker easier to lay etc.

Over the years it has warped and needs replacing as the warping is trapping waste and it needs rodding out regularly or else it backs up. There is not too far away some Victorian sewerage still working. Maybe not leak free I don't know. But it still works in its primary function. This fibre crap was stopped from being used a few years back because its flaws were eventually discovered.

I wouldn't hold faith in a lump of stretched coal Not without an interplanetary parachute.

Are you talking about polybutylene? This is hardly a comparison to nanotechnology.

Anyway, nanotechnology is fascinating and far more advanced than you give it credit for. Like I said, do some research before you pass judgment.

there is no carbon nanotube or nanotechonology which sounds an awfully lot like polymer chemistry and a definite pr campaign. even if you some how could do thi you are going to need 400 miles of cable with about 20 feet in diameter. try and find out what the volume is.

only a hippie could believe this outrageous nonsense



[edit on 15-1-2007 by Soitenly]

Originally posted by Soitenly
there is no carbon nanotube or nanotechonology which sounds an awfully lot like polymer chemistry and a definite pr campaign. even if you some how could do thi you are going to need 400 miles of cable with about 20 feet in diameter. try and find out what the volume is.

only a hippie could believe this outrageous nonsense
[edit on 15-1-2007 by Soitenly]

Do you even know what you're talking about?

this is not a sci fi book or a movie, this real life. you would need over 400 miles of cable about 20 ft in thickness and your elevator would come crashing backdown to earth in the first place

Originally posted by Soitenly
this is not a sci fi book or a movie, this real life. you would need over 400 miles of cable about 20 ft in thickness and your elevator would come crashing backdown to earth in the first place

Actually 400 miles isn't enough. That would only get you into low Earth orbit. You'd actually need about 35,000km (roughly 22,000 miles) of carbon nanotube cable.

Originally posted by Yarcofin
Can you imagine if you weren't from Earth and you saw a random giant pole sticking out of a planet?

Anyone who is not from Earth, but managed to get here must have some extremely advanced technology. So if they saw this thing they'd probably say something like, "Damn, I haven't seen one of those things in ages!"

Originally posted by jra

Originally posted by Nygdan
What happens if there is a failure and the elevator crashes to the earth?

It would fly out into space actually.

Actually, it would depend on where the break in the tether was. If it was at the orbital station, for example, the part above the break would fly off into space, while the lower part would fall and wrap itself around the planet if it didn't burn up.

Regarding wind effects. I've heard projections that the tether would be about the width and thickness of a sheet of printer paper. Now, if it's strong enough to take all the forces of being stretched out into orbit and carrying the elevator, what of significance can wind add to the equation?

I'd be more concerned with terrorism as a threat ...

[edit on 1/15/2007 by centurion1211]

Has anyone considered the effect that running a cable through the ionosphere might have? in effect you are providing a path for a gazillion volts to follow and without some way to stop the electrical flow that cable is just gonna vaporize. I've heard of what they call "space lightning" following even a space shuttle contrail. There is some serious energy stored up there. Some believe that H.A.R.P. could cause some mega bolts unlike anything we've ever seen from breeching the ionosphere.
Also if this cable were to snap I could just imagine that thing whipping around our atmoshere thrashing everything ...how ya gonna catch that?

[edit on 15-1-2007 by ORB]