In his 1978 novel, The Fountains of Paradise, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke (2001: A Space Odyessy) popularized the concept of the space elevator created by a Russian scientist in the 60’s. A week ago, a company received a FAA waiver that allows testing of the concept. Check out this diagram that explains how this would work.
Space Elevator Concept Undergoes “Reel” World Testing – The test run, conducted earlier this week, is seen as a precursor experiment intended to flight validate equipment and methods to construct a space elevator. This visionary concept would make use of an ultra-strong carbon nanotube composite ribbon stretching some 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) from Earth into space.
Clarke (who invented the concept of the geostationary satellite back in the 40’s) has written a new article about the future of this amazing idea.
As its most enthusiastic promoter, I am often asked when I think the first space elevator might be built. My answer has always been: about 50 years after everyone has stopped laughing. Maybe I should now revise it to 25 years.
How can you make money with it? Look at one of our greatest inventions of all time, the music CD. For a mere investment of about a dime, you get $15-20 a copy and we now have the technology to bring the price of CD’s to about a dollar and change. Old fashioned radio, reduces the price of music to about free, which is a good deal.
The Internet, like our other technology costs everybody plenty and makes a few people rich. It’s sort of like the state run lottery, because we as a society need more people with a huge net worth they didn’t earn. That’s the new American dream. I’m sure the governments of the world will pour cash into space travel because earth is to small a place to plunder. With space planning, we can create a more livable Milky Way by investing in the places where nobody lives. It would be nice if somebody could figure out how to make a living with a commercial jet and a U.S. airport. With space nobody cares about the costs, because it is going to save money over the long haul. NASA is saving billions of dollars and we will all get to fly to the moon and if the plan works out Mars is next. The reality of today is that flying from LAX to JFK is about to get more expensive as jet fuel costs skyrocket. People tend to not want to live in reality, which is why we have plans to go back to the moon and Survivor Guatamala shows. We are going to the moon because we can and once we get back there, we will drive around it in an NASA SUV, hit some golfballs and leave because there is nothing to do and we can do it for $100 billion by 2018. I wonder what gasoline will cost then. Maybe we will be using fuel cells like we did the last time we went to the moon. We might get a space elevator, but forget about a fuel cell as they bleed you dry and empty your wallet with Flintstonian oil company technology.
Does anyone even believe these will work?
This stuff is fascinating in as much as someone has found a way to implement high-tech material into something other than cheesy consumer products or military equipment. This is infrastructrual development at a very high level, to which we don’t pay enough attention to and from which everyone can benefit.
It also answers a vexing problem for the space program, which is having another independent means of transporting materials out of earth’s atmosphere. The only thing bothering me is – sheesh, 8 days in an elevator? There had better be decent living quarters on that platform!
Space elevator might really happen
April 12, 2018
http://www.siliconbeat.com/entries/2005/09/19/space_elevator_might_really_happen.html
Dermitt, what exactly is your problem with this concept? Your rant wasn’t very coherent, so I don’t know what message is intended. Off hand, it appeared to be some sort of complaint about spending money for research and technology. Or were you objecting to capitalism?
So what do you propose our civilization invest in? Eliminating world hunger and poverty? Nah, that can’t be it. We killed the space program 30 years ago to cure world hunger and poverty.
Besides, if we eliminated poverty then there would be more SUVs on the road and everyone would have the Internet. And somebody, somewhere would be making a profit.