yeah i thought the same... but seeing how the cables are going to be 180 times stronger than steel it would probably slice up that plane like a meat slicer and a pound of pastrami
"So to follow you logic, we should not build a space elevator because someone could destroy it?"
He has a point. If someone were to take out the base or a chunk of the middle, what exactly happens when 22,000 miles of something 180 times the strength of steel come crashing down?
A building is one thing. If this thing fell over it would crash onto half the planet.
"If this thing fell over it would crash onto half the planet." I'm assuming that one part would mostly crash into the ocean, while the other one would (partially, or completely) burn up in the atmosphere. However, if the construction material is really, and I mean really strong, then it could resist the re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere and create one neat line on the face of the planet - kind of like a whip scar, making us feel stupid in the eyes and tentacles of intelligent beings in outer space... The shame...
Personally, I would attach a few billboards on that thing near the surface to raise the overall construction budget :)
I've been following this thing for a few years and one major problem (there are several) is indeed what would happen if the tether broke beneath geostationary orbit. Much of the tether would probably burn up, but a whole lot would be dispersed in the atmosphere - extremely hazardous carbon nanotubes spread out over a huge area. Just imagine inhaling fragments of these tubes, stonger than steel, thinner than spiderweb, sharper than scalpels - scary shit. That's just one of a huge number of problems, notable others being corrosion, radiation belts, natural disasters, terrorism and the basic one, building a strong enough tether and positioning it right.... But hey, those japanese are clever, much more clever than the americans whose economy is about to fall around them like a burning space elevator... :)
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Wouldnt it be easy for someone to i dont know... destroy the ladder... like by crashing a plane into it...
So to follow you logic, we should not build a space elevator because someone could destroy it?
I'm not sure why I get out of bed in the morning if that is the case.
yeah i thought the same... but seeing how the cables are going to be 180 times stronger than steel it would probably slice up that plane like a meat slicer and a pound of pastrami
Hey its Japan, you don't have to worry. They have Gundams protecting that thing.
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"So to follow you logic, we should not build a space elevator because someone could destroy it?"
He has a point. If someone were to take out the base or a chunk of the middle, what exactly happens when 22,000 miles of something 180 times the strength of steel come crashing down?
A building is one thing. If this thing fell over it would crash onto half the planet.
"If this thing fell over it would crash onto half the planet."
I'm assuming that one part would mostly crash into the ocean, while the other one would (partially, or completely) burn up in the atmosphere. However, if the construction material is really, and I mean really strong, then it could resist the re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere and create one neat line on the face of the planet - kind of like a whip scar, making us feel stupid in the eyes and tentacles of intelligent beings in outer space... The shame...
Personally, I would attach a few billboards on that thing near the surface to raise the overall construction budget :)
Nevermind, you were talking about the pieces at the top, not the cables.
I've been following this thing for a few years and one major problem (there are several) is indeed what would happen if the tether broke beneath geostationary orbit. Much of the tether would probably burn up, but a whole lot would be dispersed in the atmosphere - extremely hazardous carbon nanotubes spread out over a huge area. Just imagine inhaling fragments of these tubes, stonger than steel, thinner than spiderweb, sharper than scalpels - scary shit. That's just one of a huge number of problems, notable others being corrosion, radiation belts, natural disasters, terrorism and the basic one, building a strong enough tether and positioning it right.... But hey, those japanese are clever, much more clever than the americans whose economy is about to fall around them like a burning space elevator... :)