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Space Elevator: High Hopes, Lofty Goals
Yahoo! News ^
| 9/17/03
| Leonard David
Posted on 09/17/2003 12:42:46 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: B-Chan
You and I may someday have the chance to visit space by train for the price of a trip to Europe today. What a great time to be alive!You know, I'll bet that someone has written that very same sentence at least once every decade for the last 100 years.
My personal disaster scenario is that the whole thing will turn the earth into a giant lopsided bolo going whoop-whoop-whoop into the sun.
61
posted on
09/17/2003 3:31:05 PM PDT
by
Heyworth
To: Reeses
Chimborazo volcano Is it active, dormant or really dead? Don't put all your eggs in a live basket.
To: SamAdams76
Ping!
To: PatrickHenry
Why can't the thing be "anchored" from a ship? The elevator they're proposing will be, that's what makes it an even more attractive proposition than the usual mountain based ones. It will put it out in the middle of the ocean far away from a potential terrorist/airplane strike and it will be able to manuever the cable to avoid orbital debris. It looks like they've got all of the major conceptual problems worked out. I'm beginning to believe this thing is going to be built within the next thirty years or so.
Space elevator is anchored at ocean-based platform. Concept is getting a serious technical look by engineers and advanced planners.
64
posted on
09/17/2003 3:53:02 PM PDT
by
Brett66
To: A Broken Glass Republican
What happens when this thing breaks and falls back down to earth? Why would you think it would fall to Earth?
Isn't it just as like that the inertia built up from centrifugal force would cause it to go flying away from Earth?
I suppose it all depends on where the sucker breaks.
Either way, whomever is in it's path will undoubtedly have little time for more than a simple, "Oh $h!t".
To: JohnBovenmyer
The Chimborazo volcano is extinct though there are active volcanoes in the area.
66
posted on
09/17/2003 3:58:19 PM PDT
by
Reeses
To: *Space; anymouse; RadioAstronomer; NonZeroSum; jimkress; discostu; The_Victor; Centurion2000; ...
Ping.
67
posted on
09/17/2003 3:59:20 PM PDT
by
Brett66
To: RightWhale
If geosynchronous orbit is ~22,000 miles up, what's going on with the other 40,000 miles of ribbon that is supposed to be needed for the elevator?
To: Flightdeck
the other 40,000 miles The balance is deployed above geosynch altitude. For balance.
69
posted on
09/17/2003 4:05:38 PM PDT
by
RightWhale
(Repeal the Law of the Excluded Middle)
To: Brett66
When you say they can maneuver the elevator, you're implying that the anchor isn't firmly attached to the earth's crust. The force pulling up on the anchor would have to be massive enough to lift any "maneuverable" ship out of the water, although I don't know about the oil platforms
To: Flightdeck
The force pulling up on it will be roughly balanced with the weight of the cable, with allowances for payload on the cable. It won't be near enough to lift a ship of several thousand tons.
71
posted on
09/17/2003 4:11:00 PM PDT
by
Brett66
To: r9etb
bump
72
posted on
09/17/2003 4:11:28 PM PDT
by
Centurion2000
(Islam : totalitarian political ideology / meme cloaked under the cover of religion)
To: RightWhale; RadioAstronomer
To: Flightdeck
The force pulling up on the anchor That is correct. The entire structure would be in tension, so the heavier the structure and elevators [assuming multiple elevators so they can lift enough cargo to make it worthwhile] the greater the tug on the anchor. You'd eventually want something the weight of the Cheops pyramid at the ground end.
74
posted on
09/17/2003 4:12:14 PM PDT
by
RightWhale
(Repeal the Law of the Excluded Middle)
To: edwin hubble
Tnx for checking in. The MIT link might be dead.
75
posted on
09/17/2003 4:15:03 PM PDT
by
RightWhale
(Repeal the Law of the Excluded Middle)
To: edwin hubble; RightWhale; RadioAstronomer
Sorry, the site for the link in #58 (Space Elevator calculations and graphs) seems to have been pulled by the author at MIT.
But the link to the July FR thread on Space Elevators is good.
To: Flightdeck
23000 miles up is geosynchronous orbit or in other words zero gravity rotating with a period of 24 hours. In order to get tension on the cable you have to further out and still rotate at a 24 hour period.
To: r9etb
I still see a little pin in big tire.Action metaphors on earth
or erf in ebonics
78
posted on
09/17/2003 4:22:45 PM PDT
by
norraad
To: LibWhacker
We won't be able to build a space elevator cost-effectively until the cable can be manufactured in space.
We have to get a counterweight and raw materials (asteroid) towed back from the Asteroid Belt.
Then they can manufacture the cable at the source and drop it.
79
posted on
09/17/2003 4:34:54 PM PDT
by
Centurion2000
(Islam : totalitarian political ideology / meme cloaked under the cover of religion)
To: LibWhacker
How big of a figure 8 will the platform trace in orbit and on the ground?
80
posted on
09/17/2003 4:35:50 PM PDT
by
Consort
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