Space Elevator 2057 - Video.

Just watched this cool segment of the Discovery channel series 2057, where they talk about the reality of a space elevator becoming real.
The ribbon needed would extend 62,000 miles into space anchored with a counter weight to keep it taught with centrifugal force.
An elevator car would then travel 250 miles to a space station, with the ride taking around 30mins.

They plan to anchor the ribbon on a former oil rig platform out in the pacific, where weather/lighting data shows a particular spot, where it is the safest in regards to hazardous weather.
The elevator would be powered up by a ground laser using high intensity light beamed onto solar panels underneath the car.

That's the basic idea, with a few more problems to get over, orbital debris and radiation, they say can be got around with today's technology, apart from the material needed to build the ribbon, and steel and Kevlar are not strong enough.

A los alamos scientist has come up with a material called Carbon Nanotubes, its 10x lighter and 100x stronger than steel, made from the same material as coal and diamonds, but the problem is being able to make enough for the ribbon, and that seems to be the main set back.

Great video, any thoughts on this, it could be used in a variety of ways from tourists, shops, to even colonies.

Video.






[edit on 4-5-2007 by Denied]

Isn´t there a danger of it getting hit by something, a plane, meteor, space junk?

Plus the people in the top part will get motion sick, they´ll be traveling a lot faster than the earths surface