Apparently building
space elevators in one's spare time is becoming a
common hobby for
jobless entrepreneurial engineers, as a bevy of eager teams set out to best NASA's "house tether" in order to get their rendition approved for intergalactic use. The contest requires that teams create cabling that weighs under two grams, sports a fiber loop with a circumference of at least two meters, and can withstand more weight (upwards of 1,662 pounds) than NASA's three-gram edition. While last year's shindig ended
sans a winning party, NASA quadrupled the prize to $200,000 in order to attract more serious competition, but failed to crown a champion yet again. Three teams were immediately disqualified due to loop circumferences being less than the compulsory two meters, which sparked a "heated debate with contest organizers" about the supposed clarity of the rules. While a plethora of geeky expletives were presumably hurled, NASA only allowed the rule-abiding Astroaraneae team to officially compete -- but the Aerojet employees fell a bit short as their line snapped after withstanding 1,336 pounds of force. While we aren't sure if next year's challenge will offer an even larger purse (or yield an actual winner), we're fairly certain that the rulebook will be exorbitantly straightforward if nothing else.
posted Oct 23rd 2006 6:47AM
Americans are funny guys but how will they ever be able to learn not to mix meassuring units.
Grams is not a unit for a rope, and pound is not SI conform!
Greetings
Marcus
1) Its not rope
2) When measuring weight you can use grammes for solids...
Let's just blow up Jupiter for its ooey-gooey diamondy center and DO THIS THING!
As I said before the space elevator is a pipe-dream. BUT if they think they can do it let them pour their own money into it. Who knows... maybe I'm wrong :)
Space elevator is a pipe dream.
Space Shuttle is a pipe dream.
Going to the moon is a pipe dream.
Surviving high altitudes is a pipe dream.
Flying faster than sound is a pipe dream.
A man flying is a pipe dream.
Here's to the dreamers.
I await the day I will be proven wrong.
Yes, it is a pipe dream. We have yet to build any structure a mile high, let alone an "elevator" that is over 170 miles high. a slight gust of wind will topple the ting over after the first three miles, which if they will buid it within the next 50 years, will take probably a year every mile.
The space elevator will never be built. Ever.
Seabass - space elevators aren't miles high buildings.... do at least a tiny bit of research before you post. We're not talking a 170 mile high skyscraper... we're talking a 170 mile long rope with a rock attached at the end. Is wind a concern? Sure, but it can't "topple over" it's not a building using rigidity to counteract gravity. Look it up on wikipedia - search for "space elevator".
Never say never guys... Half the things we take for granted today were deemed 'never' at one point of time or the other. At least keep an open mind.
"a slight gust of wind will topple the ting over after the first three miles, which if they will buid it within the next 50 years, will take probably a year every mile."
Could it be constructed in space and then lowered all at once ? In theory of course...
I tend to think the space elevator won't end up panning out either. Not a physical one anyway. Maybe a conduit of magnetic forces between/controled by a body in orbit and a base on the ground that sends up a car/payloads, but a 170 mile structure standing on end and reaching into space...
Even if it's technically possible, I doubt it will ever be economically feasible. I just don't see how it would ever have sufficient ROI.
And yeah, just imagine if it fell over...
But I, like some of the other dissenters, have nothing against dreams, and whole heartedly admit I could be wrong. I'd love to ascend into space on a dream forged into reality...
Best wishes pipe dreamers!
Make a computer that can do complex 3d analyis smaller than a office building? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, that will never happen.
Wait a second....
Create a plane capable of being strapped to rocket engines and launched repeatedly into space? You are crazy man, dont make me laugh, hehe.
Wait a second....
Make a world wide network linking millions of computers to each other simultaneously enabling the near instintaneous transfer of information? Yeah, like that will ever happen....
Wait a second....
My point is keep an open mind, the things we said were impossible thirty years ago have become so common place we dont even consider them novel anymore. We have computers that fit in the palm of our hands more powerfull than computers that filled entire rooms, we have a space shuttle that flies into outerspace regularly (ok it has problems, but it still happens), and we have a little thing called the internet that was not even someones pipe dream thirty years ago.
Take nothing for granted, and say nothing is impossible, what was a pipe dream yesterday is reality today, and what is a pipe dream today could just be our future.
Once in the seventies I've read a book from Arthur C. Clarke about a lift from earth to moon. Could it be another case of life mimicking art?
Instead of using an "elevator" in the "traditional" manor, why not have two really powerful magnets: one in space and one on Earth. The magnets can push/pull togehter to raise or lower an object inside of a metallic container. Would this even be possible? It was just a random idea and would probably be a lot easier than using cables and pulleys.
I would imagine that a magnet of that power would also suck up all the iron objects for a large area around the main point not to mention the iron ore.
Think more in the terms of it being a doomsday device rather than a means of transportation :)
HOWEVER a magnetic CONDUIT would be possible even if it is a bit out of our league right now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_babel
Damn, if only they had made one more pound, they would have been t3h 1337.
Parralax is a b!tch, ain't it?
I'm glad to see anything out of the ordinary. I agree with many of the above posters in that we have to keep an open mind. Our possibilies are endless with the right brain power. Lets think of a couple of possibilities that were once a mere dream: electricity, terabytes of storage, and lets not forget invisibility.
"lets not forget invisibility"
We still haven't cracked that one. The current discovery is like saying "Well... I've jumped over a stool... now let's try a skyscraper"
I'll just wait for the worm hole....
that's an awful long time to be listening to elevator music!
I'm a space enthusiast...so I'll give all ya the 411 on the Space Elevator.
ok, Its going to be 62,000 miles long...not 170. At the end of it will be the counterweights...which wont be a asteroid, like you see in some early renderings, but it will wither be simple chunks of steel lofted up by rockets, and/or it will be left over "climbers", which is just another name for elevator.
It will not be in an enclosed structure...it will be a single cable/ribbon that will be appx. 3 feet wide and paper thin.
There should be one built around 2030.
And its not a really speedy elevator...it would take around 6 days to reach the top...at the currently studied 200 mph speed. But keep in mind...the vast majority of climbers wont go that high...hell the ISS sits at just 250 miles...But (for instance) if you wanted to put your satellite in a GEO orbit, which is around 22,000 miles, then that would take around 2 days...which is pretty quick considering most rockets get delayed many says anyway.
anywho...The Space Elevator Will be build with in your lifetime.
Public space travel is around 3 years away...But its to sub orbit, and will cost around 200,000 bucks...and it will be around 5 years until the first public space station is up there.
The days of big government's owning space are dwindling fast...and public space flight is catching on quick...public ventures will make money...something government funded projects cant do.