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#11
09-22-2005, 04:01 PM
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Re: Feasibility of Space Elevator?
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[ QUOTE ] there will be a functioning space elevator in roughly 15 years from now. [/ QUOTE ] Oh, that's funny. Name the bet, as high as you want, and I'll call it. [/ QUOTE ] $1,000. The term "roughly" will be defined as give or take 15 years [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] 
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#12
09-22-2005, 04:02 PM
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Re: Feasibility of Space Elevator?
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[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] Do you know how much carbon fiber would be needed to build such a thing? [/ QUOTE ] No. [/ QUOTE ] Off the top of my head, I'd estimate maybe the equivalent of 1 million B-2 bombers. [/ QUOTE ] You're way off. The whole point of the special material is that it is insanely strong. The threads that support the elevator don't need to be that thick. And the platform itself won't be that much extra material. [/ QUOTE ] Carbon fiber is not "insanely strong", nor is it a "special material". I used the B-2 because its structure is largely carbon fibre-based. How many B-2's worth of carbon fibre do you think is needed for a 10000+km elevator? If the answer is just say 1000 versus 1,000,000 then that is still way too expensive to be feasible any time soon.
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#13
09-22-2005, 04:05 PM
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Re: Feasibility of Space Elevator?
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Ignoring all technical issues, who could ever in the foreseeable future afford it to the point that it would be beneficial to build and operate? [/ QUOTE ] $10 billion and a decade?
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#14
09-22-2005, 04:05 PM
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Re: Feasibility of Space Elevator?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] there will be a functioning space elevator in roughly 15 years from now. [/ QUOTE ] Oh, that's funny. Name the bet, as high as you want, and I'll call it. [/ QUOTE ] $1,000. The term "roughly" will be defined as give or take 15 years [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [/ QUOTE ] I call.
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#15
09-22-2005, 04:10 PM
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Re: Feasibility of Space Elevator?
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[ QUOTE ] Ignoring all technical issues, who could ever in the foreseeable future afford it to the point that it would be beneficial to build and operate? [/ QUOTE ] $10 billion and a decade? [/ QUOTE ] From article: Given the far stronger-than-steel ribbon of carbon nanotubes, a space elevator could be up within a decade. "There's no real serious stumbling block to this," Edwards explained. Yeah, okay. Boston has spent more money and taken longer on the Big Dig construction project, but these guys think they will have the money, technology, and political/commercial backing to build a 35000km elevator in a decade. Meanwhile we enter the third decade of the F-22 fighter project, which still hasn't produced a single jet on operational status.
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#16
09-22-2005, 04:14 PM
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Re: Feasibility of Space Elevator?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] Do you know how much carbon fiber would be needed to build such a thing? [/ QUOTE ] No. [/ QUOTE ] Off the top of my head, I'd estimate maybe the equivalent of 1 million B-2 bombers. [/ QUOTE ] You're way off. The whole point of the special material is that it is insanely strong. The threads that support the elevator don't need to be that thick. And the platform itself won't be that much extra material. [/ QUOTE ] Carbon fiber is not "insanely strong", nor is it a "special material". I used the B-2 because its structure is largely carbon fibre-based. How many B-2's worth of carbon fibre do you think is needed for a 10000+km elevator? If the answer is just say 1000 versus 1,000,000 then that is still way too expensive to be feasible any time soon. [/ QUOTE ] actually it will be built out of carbon nanotube ribbons. They are already being manufactured in america and japan and are much stronger than steel. and we are not that far away from actually building the thing: "Once secure, a platform-based free-electron laser system is used to beam energy to photocell-laden "climbers". These are automated devices that ride the initial ribbon skyward. Each climber adds more and more ribbon to the first, thereby increasing the cable's overall strength. Some two-and-a-half years later, and using nearly 300 climbers, a first space elevator capable of supporting over 20-tons (20,000-kilograms) is ready for service."
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#17
09-22-2005, 04:18 PM
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Re: Feasibility of Space Elevator?
This will almost certainly not happen ever. Or anytime in the next century anyways.
The thing is, even if you could build an elevator that high, it is not like once you were in space you could just put on a space suit and start floating away or build spaceships with materials you got up there. The reason that astronauts experience zero G has nothing to do with being in space or being 'so far' away from the earth. the reason is because they are essentially in a constant state of falling, but are moving so fast that they continually fall over the horizon and appear to be 'floating' above the earth. If they were to come to a complete stop, they would immediately plummet back to earth. In other words, you don't just need to build a giant elevator, you also need to accelerate to a great speed once you get up there. And if you are just using the elevator to get materials into space, you need to figure out a way for astronauts to pick it up while flying past at thousands of miles per hour. So there is really no point even if you could build it. A better question would be, how long till we have a functioning mass driver for which to propel objects into space. That or some other device which allows us to get an object into space whereby the fuel is not a part of the payload. Regards Brad S lol - just read the link and the idea of the thousands of mile long cable elevator. interesting and not at all the naive idea I thought this thread was suggesting, though still perhaps not all that feasible in any near future. I will say this. If something like this (or a mass driver) is ever built, I'd wager that it will be done commercially, and government operated programs like NASA or ESA will have nothing to do with it. The Gov't will have a hard time ever pitching an idea with that big a pricetag on space travel. Investors, however, may see the ultimate payoff and get the job done. If I were bill gates, my mass driver would already be built.
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#18
09-22-2005, 04:20 PM
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Re: Feasibility of Space Elevator?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] Do you know how much carbon fiber would be needed to build such a thing? [/ QUOTE ] No. [/ QUOTE ] Off the top of my head, I'd estimate maybe the equivalent of 1 million B-2 bombers. [/ QUOTE ] You're way off. The whole point of the special material is that it is insanely strong. The threads that support the elevator don't need to be that thick. And the platform itself won't be that much extra material. [/ QUOTE ] Carbon fiber is not "insanely strong", nor is it a "special material". I used the B-2 because its structure is largely carbon fibre-based. How many B-2's worth of carbon fibre do you think is needed for a 10000+km elevator? If the answer is just say 1000 versus 1,000,000 then that is still way too expensive to be feasible any time soon. [/ QUOTE ] actually it will be built out of carbon nanotube ribbons. They are already being manufactured in america and japan and are much stronger than steel. and we are not that far away from actually building the thing: "Once secure, a platform-based free-electron laser system is used to beam energy to photocell-laden "climbers". These are automated devices that ride the initial ribbon skyward. Each climber adds more and more ribbon to the first, thereby increasing the cable's overall strength. Some two-and-a-half years later, and using nearly 300 climbers, a first space elevator capable of supporting over 20-tons (20,000-kilograms) is ready for service." [/ QUOTE ] I'm aware of the strength of carbon-based composites. "Stronger than steel" and "insanely strong" have different connotations to me as a material scientist.
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#19
09-22-2005, 04:22 PM
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Re: Feasibility of Space Elevator?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] there will be a functioning space elevator in roughly 15 years from now. [/ QUOTE ] Oh, that's funny. Name the bet, as high as you want, and I'll call it. [/ QUOTE ] I'd like to get in on this one, too.
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#20
09-22-2005, 04:24 PM
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Re: Feasibility of Space Elevator?
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This will almost certainly not happen ever. Or anytime in the next century anyways. The thing is, even if you could build an elevator that high, it is not like once you were in space you could just put on a space suit and start floating away or build spaceships with materials you got up there. The reason that astronauts experience zero G has nothing to do with being in space of being 'so far' away from the earth. the reason is because they are essentially in a constant state of falling, but are moving so fast that they continually fall over the horizon and appear to be 'floating' above the earth. If they were to come to a complete stop, they would immediately plummet back to earth. In other words, you don't just need to build a giant elevator, you also need to accelerate to a great speed once you get up there. And if you are just using the elevator to get materials into space, you need to figure out a way for astronauts to pick it up while flying past at thousands of miles per hour. So there is really no point even if you could build it. A better question would be, how long till we have a functioning mass driver for which to propel objects into space. That or some other device which allows us to get an object into space whereby the fuel is not a part of the payload. Regards Brad S [/ QUOTE ] do some reaserch before making retarded claims buddy. The space elevator would actually be in geosynchronous Orbit w/ the earth. Geo-synch-ron-ous o-r-b-i-t. sound it out.
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