[tricky_k_1972]

Climb higher, Climb faster, Reach for the Stars!

[tricky_k_1972]

Space Ping! If you want on or off this list please Freepmail me. My Home Page

[frithguild]

The Tether Challenge centers on the creation of a material that combines light weight and incredible strength. Under this challenge, teams will develop high strength materials that will be stretched in a head-to-head competition to see which tether is strongest.

Hmmm... Maybe molecular wire made from buckeyballs?

[LibertarianInExile]

Now THIS is how government should do R&D, if it's gonna be done! And this is WHERE government should do R&D, if they are gonna do it at all--look into new, more efficient ways to carry out programs already delivering a public service (though NASA might not entirely qualify there).

[edwin hubble]

"The Space Elevator concept was first introduced in the 1960s "

actually...

The concept of the space elevator first appeared in 1895 when a Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris to consider a tower that reached all the way into space. He imagined placing a "celestial castle" at the end of a spindle-shaped cable, with the "castle" orbiting Earth in a geosynchronous orbit (i.e. the castle would remain over the same spot on Earth's surface). The tower would be built from the ground up to an altitude of 35,790 kilometers above mean sea level (geostationary orbit). Comments from Nikola Tesla suggest that he may have also conceived such a tower. Tsiolkovsky's notes were sent behind the Iron Curtain after his death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator

[KevinDavis]

[RadioAstronomer]

If built, a Space Elevator would provide a safe, low cost, way to launch payloads such as satellites into orbit.

You better find a source of unobtanium, seldomseenium, and "able to violate the laws of physicsium".

IMHO, the "Space Elevator" even rates below "Project Orion" in my list nutty ideas.