Elevator into space: Japanese firm determined to proceed with bold engineering project

[ZetZet]

-snip-

Yes, we need a shuttle, but we don't really have the technology for powering rockets that's sustainable.

I remember reading about some people developing plasma powered rockets, but that's pretty far away too.

Basically everything comes down to: we need more electricity and amazing batteries.

[ShadowCaptain]

Yes, we need a shuttle, but we don't really have the technology for powering rockets that's sustainable.

I remember reading about some people developing plasma powered rockets, but that's pretty far away too.

Basically everything comes down to: we need more electricity and amazing batteries.

 

Yeah if we could have an electric shuttle then we could easily build a small fleet to fly out goods, parts and people to places like the ISS, and we could build more advanved space stations and satellites helping global communications and monitoring

 

I am not sure a space elevator is practical, it only goes to one place, and if it were to collapse or fall it would crush cities, it would also cost a bazzilion dollars

 

EDIT:

 

also I watch on either V Sauce or Veritasium that even carbon nano tubes eventually if you want to create them that long you have to make them very thick

[ZetZet]

Yeah if we could have an electric shuttle then we could easily build a small fleet to fly out goods, parts and people to places like the ISS, and we could build more advanved space stations and satellites helping global communications and monitoring

 

I am not sure a space elevator is practical, it only goes to one place, and if it were to collapse or fall it would crush cities, it would also cost a bazzilion dollars

Plasma is not fully electric, it uses superheated gas for propulsion, but there is A TON of gas around. In our universe you can't go forward without releasing something out back.

 

 

Heh, it wouldn't crush cities, space is not that high up bro.

 

[yurihellsing]

Yes, we need a shuttle, but we don't really have the technology for powering rockets that's sustainable.

I remember reading about some people developing plasma powered rockets, but that's pretty far away too.

Basically everything comes down to: we need more electricity and amazing batteries.

 

With a solar array attached to the end in space which could be made bigger over time having access to 24/7/365 unadulterated sunlight i don't think power will be a problem.

 

Yeah if we could have an electric shuttle then we could easily build a small fleet to fly out goods, parts and people to places like the ISS, and we could build more advanved space stations and satellites helping global communications and monitoring

 

I am not sure a space elevator is practical, it only goes to one place, and if it were to collapse or fall it would crush cities, it would also cost a bazzilion dollars

 

The gains will outweigh the costs and the risks.

[ShadowCaptain]

 

Plasma is not fully electric, it uses superheated gas for propulsion, but there is A TON of gas around. In our universe you can't go forward without releasing something out back.

 

 

Heh, it wouldn't crush cities, space is not that high up bro.

 

 

 

Depends how high they intend to go... its pretty high at 62 miles, it would weigh an awful lot too, if it is that strong it could fall in a way that it doesnt crumble like a building and instead slams down into the ground

 

 

With a solar array attached to the end in space which could be made bigger over time having access to 24/7/365 unadulterated sunlight i don't think power will be a problem.

 

The gains will outweigh the costs and the risks.

I am on the fence

[ZetZet]

With a solar array attached to the end in space which could be made bigger over time having access to 24/7/365 unadulterated sunlight i don't think power will be a problem.

 

 

The gains will outweigh the costs and the risks.

Oh solar compared to fusion is like nothing...

 

Depends how high they intend to go... its pretty high at 62 miles, it would weigh an awful lot too, if it is that strong it could fall in a way that it doesnt crumble like a building and instead slams down into the ground

At some point up the cable, the two terms (downward gravity and upward centrifugal force) equal each other; objects fixed to the cable there have no weight on the cable. This occurs at the level of the stationary orbit. This level (r₁) depends on the mass of the planet and its rotation rate. Setting actual gravity and centrifugal acceleration equal to each other gives:

On Earth, this level is 35,786 km (22,236 mi) above the surface, the level of geostationary orbit.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator

 

[ShadowCaptain]

SNIP

 

Hmm, I guess we shall see

[yurihellsing]

Oh solar compared to fusion is like nothing...

 

and that will come as soon as we can start getting closer to things like stars to better study them.

[Kc7vwc]

Honestly, it's so simple it's mind blowing. Put more mass at the far end, vs the entire weight of the cable, and it'd never collapse. If it broke, the centrifical (sp?) force would hurl it away. Anchor it at sea & no worries for any damage on this side of the break.

As for debris, by the time we build it, we can clean up anything major in orbit. (Send up a nuke powered electro-magnet just below the standard orbit to nudge/pull everything back down.) Using magnetics, smaller space debris can be directed & deflected around the cabling.

Solor arrays would handle any power needs, so it'd operated at a balance or even surplus of energy.

And it does go somewhere - space. It's be used as a staging point for anything going out or coming back in.

 

Here's another thought. Peter F. Hamilton talks in one of his books about how CONSTANT space travel using traditional rockets & reentry vehicles damages the ecosystem. Think about all the heat generated each time a vehicle rockets into space and burns it's way back to land. Where does all that heat energy go? It gets absorbed by the atmosphere. Now imaging a global space civilization doing that. That's insane amounts of heat energy that's generated needlessly. A space elevator negates all of that.

 

Simply, aside from the initial investment, and a little maintenance (imagine the jobs this would produce), a space elavator is nothing but pure win. Humanity needs to push on and this is a great place to start. Even James Cameron has expressed interest in mining asteroids for their mineral content. Rare minerals are only rare on Earth - space has them in abundance. Need fuel? The gas planets have more fuel than humanity could use for hundreds of generations.

Space is mankinds future & the sooner we get there the better off we'll all be. (And everyone needs to read more Sci-fi. This has been known since the '50s.)

[Ethnod]

*Snip*

 

I'm in work so cant get into it too much, been online here too long already lol, but look into the physics. They believe that due to the gravity effect its quite feasible, possibly even with some sort of metal allow never mind carbon nano-tubes.

[ShadowCaptain]

I'm in work so cant get into it too much, been online here too long already lol, but look into the physics. They believe that due to the gravity effect its quite feasible, possibly even with some sort of metal allow never mind carbon nano-tubes.

 

I admit its pretty interesting, and I never claimed it was impossible, just very difficult and expensive

[ZetZet]

and that will come as soon as we can start getting closer to things like stars to better study them.

Read up on ITER. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITER

It's actually closer than you think.

[Slinkey]

lol Space?

Space isn't even real!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*troll comment*

 

 

[Bluejay0]

Gundam 00 is happening!!

This can be a potential start of non-atmospheric solar farming... Imagine the amount of power you can harvest by deploying huge numbers of solar panels around that thing...

MY EXACT THOUGHT

[DigitalHermit]

MY EXACT THOUGHT

 

They better build three of them plus the geosynchronous solar-panel ring...

 

It can also serve as a staging area for asteroid mining and extra-terrestrial construction...

 

(Moon base, Mars terraforming, exploration, etc.)

[LePawel]

Next Step:

[ACatWithThumbs]

I admit its pretty interesting, and I never claimed it was impossible, just very difficult and expensive

Everything that has to do with space travel is difficult and expensive but the benefits would be literally world changing.