Who fancies a 62,000 mile lift ride?

[DaGaffer]

Another SF staple comes to life: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/03/01/8370588/index.htm

I'd be amazed if this was only 15 years away, but it would be cool if it was.

 

[ECA]

Hohoho, what about space debris hitting the cable or the platform?
What if as in some book I read the cable comes loose and coils around the world.
Fun.

 

[DaGaffer]

Hohoho, what about space debris hitting the cable or the platform?
What if as in some book I read the cable comes loose and coils around the world.
Fun.

Red Mars, I seem to remember.

Anyway, to paraphrase JFK: "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

What's a few million tons of cable wrapped around the world compared to that sentiment?

 

[xane]

The floating platform will ideally be anchored on the equator, Earth's calmest area with the fewest lightning strikes and storms.

Correct me if I am wrong, but won't the _only_ place to anchor it will be the equator if it is ultimately connected to a geosynchronous orbit satellite, regardless of storms and such ?

A good article, I've been interested in nanotube news for a while, it just that the power transfer laser gun bit doesn't seem to be anywhere near completion, so I think 15 years is a bit optimistic.

If anyone does develop a big-ass laser it'll be able to knock nuclear missiles off the threat list and completely upset the whole diplomatic balance of power, so that event is going to be tragic in itself.

 

[Chilly]

what the hell are you talking about "if" anyone does?

There are lasers that can produce temperatures far in excess to that of the core of stars for brief periods of time and also lasers that can chop a chunky tree down at decent range.

The only problem with these things is that you need a portable power station to run them, its doable to have a permanent one, but youl never be able to cart around enough stored energy to have a portable one.

/edit - I say never - but obviously there will be some tehnology development in the future

 

[DaGaffer]

If anyone does develop a big-ass laser it'll be able to knock nuclear missiles off the threat list and completely upset the whole diplomatic balance of power, so that event is going to be tragic in itself.

Well, that was the logic behind the whole ABM test ban treaty in the seventies ("don't develop an anti-missile system as it will disrupt the MAD balance of power"), only problem was, the Soviets developed an ABM strategy anyway, so I wouldn't worry about the effects of a laser system. Anyway, if the US built a space elevator that dropped the cost per kilo to orbit price by 98%, there would be a lot more than a big-assed laser for America's enemies to worry about; they could also build very cheap KE (kinetic energy) weapons that could pretty much target anyone anywhere for next to nothing.

 

[dysfunction]

Well, that was the logic behind the whole ABM test ban treaty in the seventies ("don't develop an anti-missile system as it will disrupt the MAD balance of power"), only problem was, the Soviets developed an ABM strategy anyway, so I wouldn't worry about the effects of a laser system. Anyway, if the US built a space elevator that dropped the cost per kilo to orbit price by 98%, there would be a lot more than a big-assed laser for America's enemies to worry about; they could also build very cheap KE (kinetic energy) weapons that could pretty much target anyone anywhere for next to nothing.

And the beauty of that is they wouldnt know who attacked them....and you could just say it was an asteroid that didnt burn up on entry into the earths atmosphere....

Brilliant!

 

[Chilly]

Its a damned shame everyone thinks of war when stuff like this is tabled. Has no one thought of the massive world-wide economic benefits? New sources of various raw materials from mining asteroids/the moon/mars etc. With the cost per kilo dropped to ~fuck all over time, it completely changes the view we take on space and this planet.

You can imagine some retard terrorist flying a plane into the cable, though. Fucking morons.

 

[Tom]

You can imagine some retard terrorist flying a plane into the cable, though. Fucking morons.

Yep, especially as the plane would fly into a million pieces leaving the cable completely unharmed

 

[xane]

Its a damned shame everyone thinks of war when stuff like this is tabled. Has no one thought of the massive world-wide economic benefits?

The entire space program was from war, or was for war.

The US missions were derived from rocket research by the Nazis, the space program was a handy way of optimizing ICBM experiments, space rockets were derived from ICBMs, even the guidance system for Apollo was intended to be implemented into missile guidance later on.

The Shuttle was originally intended to perform military missions as well, from placement of spy satellites to putting orbital missile platforms that could reduce the "4 minute warning" to 30 seconds

GPS was originally for military purposes, in its beginning the accuracy was deliberately encrypted for non-military uses.

And the big-ass laser that will be used to power this space elevator will come from anti-ballistic missile development.

 

[Paradroid]

Build two so we can use the planet to wave at passing aliens, or surrender.

They'll probably just end-up using it for advertising - all that scientific potential with a billboard hanging off the end of it selling mobile ringtones.

I think the safest way would be to build a C60 factory in space and then make one long cable, I wouldn't trust any bonding-of-sections malarky....but then again, I don't think the cable material has to be as strong as C60 nanotubes.