Why?
Because it would lower the cost of getting stuff into space by 98%,
and it's just plain cool.
And..... it's gonna happen - here.
And here.
I have loved this idea since I was kid (the concept is a 111 years old)
but it was always a Sci-Fi fantasy because no material was strong enough to build the 62,000mi. space tether the elevator would run on. Then, in 1991, Sumio Iijima of the NEC Corporation discovered carbon nanotubes, and look out, science was off to the races.
I’m not sure about LiftPort Group and their “quest to build a space elevator by April 2018” (could be a tad bit ambitious), but who knows.
I just hope I live long enough to see it. Soooo Cooool.
A. Weasel
2 comments:
I’m not sure about LiftPort Group and their “quest to build a space elevator by April 2018” (could be a tad bit ambitious), but who knows.
It's a deadline thing. Push a deadline out to far and no one takes it seriously. Too close and you _know_ you don't have enough time to get it done.
2018 seems a reasonable comprimise between those two poles.
2018 seems a reasonable comprimise between those two poles.
Brian, thanks for being my first commenter.
The rate of advance in the material science field is staggering. I agree the 2018 target date for the space elevator is probably reasonable, and I think it will have more to do with funding than technology. Once the corporate world realizes how much money there is floating around in space, I think we’ll see a lot of new things come on line very quickly.
A. Weasel
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