[blam]

Ping.

[kinoxi]

They should increase the prize money a little bit promote more serious competition. Three fourths of the entries were measured wrong?

[Fatuncle]

You know, in all seriousness, I have never seen any group or individual address a major problem of the space elevator concept - orbital debris. I cannot understand how any strand stretching from the ground to a point way the hell out beyond geosync, all other problems being solved, can survive a collision with a chunk of trash moving at orbital velocities.

And how the dickens are you going to deal with an increasingly crowded sky, when every satellite in it orbits at or below geosync? In A C Clarke's story, the sky is swept. How are we to do that?

Or is it a case of solve the problems you can now, and hope the solutions for the ones you can't will come along later?

[Reaganesque]

Well, the DARPA robotic vehicle challenge didn't go so well it's first year out either. Most of the vehicles failed to go much beyond the starting line. The next year, however, five finished the course in impressive fashion. I imagine next year's X-Prize Cup will be far more successful than this year's.

[mikrofon]

Tensions rise at space elevator challenge

You'd expect the materials used to be under tension.

Anyway, they'll eventually select one option or t'ether...