Space Elevator

[MagnetMan]

Twenty years ago I came up with the idea of hanging a cable from space so that we could find a safe way to dispose nuclear waste. Trying to figure out how to do that boggled my little mind. Then I read about a year ago that there is a guy who got Congress to fund him 5 million bucks to develope the saem idea.
Anybody know anything more about this? Is it theoretically possible?

[InfiniteNow]

Try typing your subject line into the Search bar...


Cheers.

[bdunbar]

Originally Posted by MagnetMan

Twenty years ago I came up with the idea of hanging a cable from space so that we could find a safe way to dispose nuclear waste. Trying to figure out how to do that boggled my little mind. Then I read about a year ago that there is a guy who got Congress to fund him 5 million bucks to develope the saem idea.
Anybody know anything more about this? Is it theoretically possible?

Wiki Entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator

I am not sure who, exactly, you're talking about. Dr. Brad Edwards received a NIAC grant and wrote an outstanding paper on the topic, final report released in 2003. He rethought the idea so we can - with a CNT composite of the required strength - build a SE now. ISR received some funding for the idea as well.

And then there is the company I work for, Liftport. We're exploring the idea from a private venture persepctive. See liftport.com for details.

So, ya, we think it's possible. Mind - we don't have all of the answers yet.

[Amtekoth]

Originally Posted by MagnetMan

Twenty years ago I came up with the idea of hanging a cable from space so that we could find a safe way to dispose nuclear waste. Trying to figure out how to do that boggled my little mind. Then I read about a year ago that there is a guy who got Congress to fund him 5 million bucks to develope the saem idea.
Anybody know anything more about this? Is it theoretically possible?

I read about a space elevator in a book by Arthur C. Clarke back in the late 1970's.

I just ran a google search. Check this NASA article out:

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast07sep_1.htm

Looks like the earliest ideas for this came from the 1800s! Clarke wrote about a space elevator in his book Fountains of Paradise in 1978, which is where it first gained widespread notice.

Cool stuff, once we have the materials to put it into action!

Ed

[orbsycli]

How would this affect earth's rotation?

[Jay-qu]

not much orb - the small masses in comparrison to the earths mass wouldnt do much at all

as for you magnet, this discussion has happened at length already, do what infnow said and search

[MagnetMan]

Originally Posted by Jay-qu

as for you magnet, this discussion has happened at length already, do what infnow said and search

Thanks for the input. Should have Googled it to start with. Had no idea that it was not originally my own - and because I could not figure it out myself, did not automatically think that others were on the same track.
Can only hope the idea becomes a reality soon. Space holidays are way down on my list. Nuclear Energy needs the Sun right now for safe disposal.

[Pyrotex]

Originally Posted by Amtekoth

I read about a space elevator in a book by Arthur C. Clarke back in the late 1970's....Looks like the earliest ideas for this came from the 1800s! Clarke wrote about a space elevator in his book Fountains of Paradise in 1978, which is where it first gained widespread notice.
Cool stuff, once we have the materials to put it into action!

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Tsiolkovsky
is considered by Russians and Americans alike to be the "father of space flight". He derived nearly all the equations that are still used today to design spacecraft and launch them to other planets. He also originated the idea of the space elevator.

The material with enough tensile strength to actually build such an elevator now exists. Carbon nano-tubes. It is not only the strongest material we know, it is the strongest material that can be, as it consists entirely of the Carbon-Carbon covalent bond, the strongest atomic bond in all of chemistry. Material, such as cables or ribbons made of nano-tubes held together in an epoxy-like matrix, is sometimes called polycarbon.

"Going up!! Third floor, ladies lingerie, Fourth floor, low Earth orbit, ..."

[InfiniteNow]

Actually, we were both referring to the Search feature on Hypography.

It's at the top of your screen toward the right. A very useful feature, indeed.


http://hypography.com/forums/search.php

[Kayra]

here is one

http://hypography.com/forums/space/5...r-concept.html