[RightWhale]

Materials science is advancing at a good clip. No more big, dumb boosters. Tonga is now a major contractor for space tourism; perhaps they will have one of the cables anchored on one of their islands.

[NonZeroSum]

A very interesting target for a terrorist. The amount of potential energy stored in the thing would be staggering.

[isthisnickcool]

FROM INSIDE THE ELEVATOR CAR: "Uh, hello! Anyone there!? HELLO! Uh, we are stuck! Hello! It's not moving! Dang! Someone ripped the telephone out of the little box in here! Hello! Uh HELP!!!!

[TADSLOS]

Will they include Space Elevator Muzak?

[detsaoT]

Hmmm.. If carbon nanotubes are stronger than steel, I'd be willing to bet that they've got an immediate, and very practical, purpose in skyscraper construction. If they cost less to produce than steel (not likely at this point, but probably inevitable in the future), then they would probably be accepted wholeheartedly by the construction industry (perhaps even in home construction).

This has many practical applications beyond outer space (pun intended). I don't mean to distract from the aerospace applications for it, but there are also plenty of excellent uses for this technology here on Earth.

Thanks for the article. It's very intriguing.

:) ttt

[Psycho_Bunny]

21,700 Miles of Muzak?

[JustAnAmerican]

Think I will wait until Teleporters are the norm.

[eastsider]

Edwards said he is looking into the environmental impacts stemming from elevator operations.

A space elevator attached to the equatorial Pacific would irreparably disrupt the migration pattern of the rara avis.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Anyone foolish enough to invest in this with the idea that there will be a return on his investment please contact me, I have ideas too.

[reformed_dem]

Um, maybe this is a dumb question, but wouldn't all those cables cause a drag and affect the earth's rotation?

[Drew68]

Take for instance the $13.5 billion Millennium Tower envisioned for Hong Kong Harbor. This incredible skyscraper would be 170 stories tall.

Edwards also points to the Gibraltar Bridge project. It would span the Straits of Gibraltar, linking Spain and Morocco at a projected cost of $20 billion.

The Discovery Channel recently featured these two projects on a show called "Engineering the Impossbile." The show also featured a huge ship that massively dwarfs aircraft carriers. It featured some pretty impressive science, though I'm not sure a bridge to Africa would be such a great idea.

[Brett66]

They could start small with tethers for boosting payloads already in orbit. Then we could move up to maybe a test cable on the moon. There will have to be a very healthy space industry in place before it's attempted on Earth and it will probably be up to private corporations to do it.

[mrsmith]

.
"A line directed from a [planet] to a [satellite] sweeps out equal areas in equal times."

I wish someone would point out the reason the shear forces on the cable from this law are not considered a problem for the elevator.

[avg_freeper]

I challenge any one to point to an equatorial region that isn't under constant tyranny and upheaval.

Hey, I know what we could do! We could spend Trillions of dollars on it just so some limp do-nothing future president from Georgia (Jimmy Jr.?) can give it back to the natives. That would be swell!

[FourtySeven]

I wonder if in this elevator, they could finally make the "close door" button work.

Now that would be an achievement!

[SuperLuminal]

A clear indication of the depths to which American-born science has deteriorated.

Without immigration, there would be no science of any kind in the U.S.

Still, IMHO, in the long run we would be better off with a 10-15 year elimination of all immigration....legal or otherwise.

Science, for native-born and educated Americans, will not return to its status and accomplishments of 30-60 years ago until the entire government asylum system for brainwashing the government's children is completely destroyed/eliminated.

[aimhigh]

Now I just need the $5 billion, Edwards added.

Ya, me too. And I suppose you want that out of my pocket.

[Dialup Llama]

Sounds like a sky hook, something very suspiciously like getting something for nothing. Yes the endpoint would be in geostationary orbit, and perhaps one can visiualize hanging a very long string off it or somesuch. But you can't do that for free.

However every part of this structure below the geostationary point IS NOT in orbit and will be falling toward earth. Unless some tremendous thrust is constantly applied by the endpoint to lift the whole thing up, it will fall back to earth.

Secondly, the act of transporting cargo up to the geostationary point is not free either. The cargo capsule will have to attain orbital velocity by the time it reaches the endpoint. Either the structure will impart energy to the capsule or the capsule will generate the velocity itself.

Someone please explain in terms of orbital physics how this thing can work. I just don't believe it.

[Deguello]

This will be pretty cool.

When ever there is a thunderstorm near the anchor point (can you say lightening rod?) the station in orbit would make some excellent light. But would it be a glow or more like a flash cube? Could they keep some sort of large capacitor on board and charge it from the lightening? Then use this capacitor to flash shuttles to the Moon or Mars?

[Moonman62]

Edwards also points to the Gibraltar Bridge project. It would span the Straits of Gibraltar, linking Spain and Morocco at a projected cost of $20 billion. The bridge would use towers, twice as high as the world's tallest skyscraper. Roughly 1,000,000 miles (1,600,000 kilometers) of wire cables would be utilized in the project.

What a coincidence. IIRC, the fictional chief engineer who built the space elevator in Clarke's book also built the Gibraltar Bridge, which leads me to believe that the claim in this story that a space elevator is easily within our reach for a paltry $10 billion, with all due respect, is a load of manure.

[Slewfoot]

How do you lower a cable from a satelite? Once in orbit it is weightless it won't hang down like it was hook to something fixed. If someone does a spacewalk and unreels a mile of cable downward, this would put the end of the cable in a different (eliptical) oribit, where it would circle the satelite.