Elevator Going Way Up!

Somehow, this article embraces a technology that I do not think I would ever trust.

'Space elevator' would take humans into orbit - CNN.com

 

I certainly won't be at the front of the queue to try it out.

If that cable between earth and the space station happened to snap, it's "bye bye earth" to whoever is in the elevator.

 

I would rather French kiss a skunk than stand in the queue. :lol:

 

How much would they pay me?

 

A counterweight where there is no gravity ?
I wanna see that work.
Your basic elevator/lift (cable) for 8 floors, and I'm not sure how many per car, costs $17,000, 15 years ago.
I know this because we were welding around one without wrapping them with a fire-proof blanket, and were told if "one" burr of slag attached to it, that's what we'd be charged.
I shudder to think of the cost of this one.

 

It's a bit more complicated than your average lift but the counterweight idea is sound in theory. Keep in mind that orbit is really just free-fall (there is gravity at the altitude at which satellites etc orbit, otherwise they would simply float away), put a counterweight in free-fall at the right altitude and apply the right forces and it should just hang in geostationary orbit. 'Tethering' it to the earth and then establishing a means to transport a capsule from the surface to orbit is the complicated bit but it's hardly inconceivable.

I think it's a pretty interesting idea and well worth exploring as an alternative to shuttles etc.

 

So it would come down as fast a satellites would? In ten or so years?

I think something like Saddams "Super-Gun" would be a better idea.
A big Mortar/Punt-Gun, that could be fired both ways ... like this

>< >< >< >< >< every 1/4 mile or so, they could also be (the reversible thruster tubes) be used as brakes going the other way.

Get rid of the cable.

 

It need not come down if fitted with the correct equipment to keep it up and in place. Satellites are allowed to come down because it isn't worth the expense of keeping them up, this is different.

 

There was an idea back in the 60s or 70s called Project Orion that functioned basically on this principle, they planned on dropping small nukes out the back of the craft and riding the shockwaves into orbit. Thankfully, the nuclear test-ban treaty changed how we discharge nukes in the atmosphere. I can't imagine all the fallout associated with that.

 

Ya, they were "nuke" crazy back then.
No nukes in space, please. You really "Don't" know what you're doing there
Once you're up there, a f_rt will send you off opposite the direction it's pointed. They don't need to be big at all, unless you want speed.
This all to get out of the atmosphere, and the majority of the gravity.
If then a greater distance is required, a "Pulse-Jet" with directional, correction able abilities with get you to where you must/have to go.
They didn't keep firing to get to the moon, other than course correction, they just kept going like a hokey-puck.
I'm just making the point of ... the fewer moving parts (that become "Brittle" in the frigid void of space) the better ... K-I-S-S principle.

 

I imagine MIT are pretty aware of this

 

We all remember how the very best minds in the business "Over-Engineered" the first monkey in a capsule with the Astronauts.
Everything was considered and provided for, their nutrition, health, exercise, sleep & comfort.
OOPS
No one remembered that "Monkeys" pee-poop-and puke.
What a mess. A space mission became ... "Baby-Sitting in Space"
Over-engineering, the one few see coming.
I'm sure MIT had many hands in that too.

 

This is an old plan, or rather dream. In Fountains of Paradise Arthur C. Clarke had envisioned a super-strong nano-filiment made from diamond (somehow). He said in later interviews that if the concept was perfected it could replace the Space Shuttle overnight.

I remember when I read it (about 16 years ago now), I was fascinated and the "filiment" was the only thing holding the concept back. Now with nano-tech and buckyballs being perfected I can see how it might succeed.

 

I love the levels of scepticism about this kind of thing, rather like the people insisting that trains were dangerous because 'man can not live at that speed!'

 

This not quite correct. In all the "longer flights" with monkeys and chimps a catheter was used to collect urine produced during the flight (for later analysis), and the animal was always diapered for feces collection. And due to problems with the launch schedule the Rhesus monkey "Able" spent three days in the capsule. He was fed intraperitoneally (tube into torso), and his diapers changed before lift-off. It was discovered early on that by feeding the primates (chimps or monkeys) peanuts as a supplement protein, their gastro-intestinal tract became constipated, and the feces output was reduced to near nothing.

Seems they thought of that stuff, empty stomachs, no vomit. Catheters and diapers for waste. Able and Baker (spider monkey) were the first primates to survive the tests, and their waste products had been considered as I mentioned above. A great number of the earlier failures to recover the "subjects" was due to parachute failure on re-entry. Not much to clean up really in those cases. Oh, BTW most of the earlier launches were done with the monkeys anesthetized, catheterized, and diapered. At least those who crashed under failed chutes were sound asleep when they died.

Extracted and summerized from:

4. PROGRAMS, MISSIONS, AND PAYLOADS

 

As others have stated, one mistake up there and you're dead & the thing is a bust,
Begs the question ... What for ?
You mean this stuff, that the Asians are already ahead of us on ?
http://disc.discovery.com/convergence/engineering/pyramidcity/Interactive.html
Other more urgent endeavors await.
Chris Jacobs Vertical Farm » Blog Archive » Published Vertical Farm Designs
http://www.verticlefarm.com/
http://www.altellersoa.fr/
Brilliant Green Architectural Design Concept? Skyscraper Retrofits for Power and Food | ecoble - ecological design, green innovation and environmental sustainability
An Off-Grid Vertical Farm for Downtown Seattle | EcoGeek | Building, Food, Water, Urban, Challenges
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/sky_farm_prepos.php

all by "Sqirrelinator"

don't know why some of the links wont work, but you can find them by the names & what they suggest. The first is about a pyramid city in Tokyo Bay from the discovery channel. Extreme engineering. They'll grow the material they'll use, not "like", but as you can grow crystal.
http://www.crystalgrowing.com
Others are better ideas for the future ... if we want one.

 

Much like space travel and flight in general...

 

Agree ... somewhat.
There's a lot going on up there, we don't see on the "Telly".
Better invent some meteor resistant paint first. (they're only meteorites after 90 percent of them burn up in the atmosphere & then hit the ground.)
Most are small, you can even call it "cosmic-dust" if you'd rather, but it still travels at (give or take) 40,000 mph.

I believe the crater was created by one ten feet in diameter ?

Incoming

 

Photos, please?

 

I would worry about a miscalculated orbit resulting in the cables slowly getting twisted around the earth and pulling the space station out of orbit!