About bleeding bloody time (space lift) (1 Viewer)

[Slidey]

http://weblog.physorg.com/news1725.html

A notion long regarded as science fiction is moving toward reality. According to Seattle Post-Intelligencer, LiftPort Inc. of Bremerton said it will open a plant in New Jersey this summer to produce the building blocks for a 62,000-mile-long elevator cable into outer space.

Yay for nanotechnology.

 

[townie]

i have vertigo, i dont think i'd like riding in it, and imagine if some1 farted, u couldnt get off!

 

[Rafy]

This sounds expensive and commerically unviable.

 

[Slidey]

This sounds expensive and commerically unviable.

Oh. How so?

 

[Minai]

At what speed would you get "lifted"?
Imagine the time it'd take to travel 62,000 miles!

 

[Slidey]

I'm not sure. It depends how it is created.

Personally, I think the fact that an object in space could be permanently tethered to the Earth is pretty amazing.

 

[Slidey]

99780 km

Speed of 1000km/h it would take 100 days.

 

[stamos]

At what speed would you get "lifted"?
Imagine the time it'd take to travel 62,000 miles!

i'm pretty certain that it's to lift equipment, not people

it costs something obscene in terms of fuel to carry a kilo of payload into space

 

[Minai]

Would this thing use fuel though..?

 

[Slidey]

Again, that depends. Nanotechnology is a very young technology.

I can see possibilities for it using renewable fuel... photovoltaics, mainly (solar). Perhaps the energy generated by the friction as the lift ascends or descends could generate further electricity. It's likely hydrogen would be used.

For possible specifics, see here: http://www.answers.com/space lift

 

[spell check]

it'd suck waiting for the lift to come back down if you just missed it

 

[Rafy]

Hmm they seem very confident that the ribbon would break often.