Subject:
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Re: Going up
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.geek
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Date:
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Wed, 27 Apr 2005 18:22:02 GMT
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Viewed:
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2131 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.geek, Larry Pieniazek wrote:
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In lugnet.off-topic.geek, Dave Schuler wrote:
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Now that’s what I
call upward mobility.
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That would be cool if it comes off.
Color me skeptical for now. Space Elevators are an
idea that has been around since forever, and if you
have the materials strength to do it, they offer
the cheapest way per pound of any technology devised.
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The plan sounds like Brad Edwards plan (here’s the closest I can get to his
website):
http://www.americanantigravity.com/highlift.html
He did a NIAC study on it, a well-written and researched one, *including* the
economic aspects (something often overlooked). *IF* you can get carbon nanofiber
ribbon strong enough, it’s a very nice plan. Note, nanotubes are more than
strong enough - it’s making the ribbon (and, next hurdle, climbing it) that are
currently unknowns. Basic idea: a couple of Titan launches put a reel in
Geosync orbit, which then lowers a tether (a very thin ribbon, Earth-terminal
end a few microns thick and perhaps 5 cm wide) to a base station floating in the
ocean (to avoid lightning, among other issues). Then climbers from the base
ascend, fusing more buckeytube cable to the original strand. In a decade (from
start to finish), you’ve got a nice elevator. The first export from the elevator
should be other elevators, which you then tow into position. If you like this
stuff, read the NIAC report. Heck, visit the NIAC page: and read all the other
blue-sky ideas for MOCs:
http://www.niac.usra.edu/
--
Brian Davis
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Going up
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| (...) That would be cool if it comes off. Color me skeptical for now. Space Elevators are an idea that has been around since forever, and if you have the materials strength to do it, they offer the cheapest way per pound of any technology devised. (...) (20 years ago, 27-Apr-05, to lugnet.off-topic.geek, FTX)
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