A crawler team wins $900,000.
As I recall, braided carbon nanutube cables may be strong enough to make the idea work. A space elevator is a game-changer because it makes putting things in orbit an order of magnitude cheaper. That would mean we could think seriously about manned exploration of the Solar System or a lunar colony.
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But what about all the poor, how can we spend money on space when there are still people starving in Africa?
/lib
It will need to built on the equator, meaning Africa has a number of very attractive locations. That means making Africa a gateway to the stars. Even the kleptocracies endemic over there would have a hard time screwing that up.
And yes, I know you were being sarcastic, but I just felt it ought to be said.
The most wildly improbable-seeming way to space might just be what makes it practical and affordable. I love this, I hope I live to see it happen.
Shouldn’t this article be more accurately titled as “lifts slowly upward” Yes, I get it, there is no “up” in space but still.
The article suggested a beanstalk for the Moon. I initially rejected that idea, but it might work. L1 (between the Earth and Moon) probably wouldn’t work because of orbital eccentricity, but L2 seems viable (beyond the Moon). It would be 60,000 km to L2 (and counterbalance stretching well beyond that), but most of that is at negligible g.
There are two main numbers to consider in beanstalks:
1) Weight-length to synchronous orbit,. “g-km” is a handy measure of this.
2) Material strength, which can also be expressed in “g-km”. For steel cable, it’s about 25 g-km, giving a doubling distance of 20 km. That is, every 20 km of steel cable, you need to double its cross-section to support the weight of cable below.
I note that in the cited fine print, Thomas Nugent, a principal of the organization that won the award for their device, clearly said he does not think the idea of a nanotube space elevator will work on Earth, but might well do so on Luna or Mars.
Irrespective of that, I hope mankink soldiers on in space exploration, and especially so in regard to setting up permanent habitation on Mars and beginning the long work of terraforming that planet.
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Dean, it is good to see you are alive and around. I tried telephoning you, but your phone either was always busy or you were not at home.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Another step on the way can be found here.
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