Space Elevator

[wholloway]

This is a great site, the link is directed to one of my favorite projects.

 

http://www.isr.us/SEHome.asp?m=1

[Tormod]

Wow! This is very interesting! I remember reading lots of stories by Arthur C Clarke with space elevators in them. Not long ago they were thought impossible. Do you think there is any merit in this?

 

Tormod

[TeleMad]

The latest (June 2004) issue of Discover magazine has a multi-page article on space elevators.

[lindagarrette]

There are lots of articles and a very active forum on this topic:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/space-elevator/promote

[Freethinker]

The biggest question is whether they will improve the music?

[Uncle Martin]

It seems that carbon nanotube technology may make space elevators feasible. The more I read about the subject, the less I doubt its future realization. I have to consider NASA's funding of the research to indicate some very real potential. The private sector looking at commercial applications is even more indicative. There is however a possible obstacle that occurs to me that I've not seen mentioned elsewhere; the existing low earth orbit satelites currently in all manner of variously inclinated orbits may make finding empty air space all but impossible. Our upper atmosphere and near space may be too "littered" with satellites to avoid an eventual collision with a space elevator. I'd appreciate more information on this consideration if anyone has any.

 

The following link is a must read for all whom are interested:

 

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/space_elevator_020327-1.html

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[Aki]

What about asteroids? They can collide with the space elevator and maybe rip the cable apart.

[Uncle Martin]

A large asteroid or meteor impact would cause severe if not catastrophic damage, however the probability of such a collision is very low. NASA has studied micro meteor damage and asserts that the damage would be similar to potholes on a highway, needing numerous teams doing continuous maintenance. I'd still like to know if there is any space out to geosync orbit that is completely clear of existing satellites orbital paths.

[TeleMad]

Another problem that hasn't been mentioned in this thread (though maybe in one of the links) is that of space debris. A single screw zipping around at 20,000 mph is a very destructive thing, and there are "thousands" of such pieces of debris. I imagine their affect would be similar to the micrometeors that Uncle Martin mentioned.

 

It was stated in the article in Discover that the plan called for building the elevator with a movable base (offshore somewhere near the equator). That way, any LARGE debris being tracked could be dodged by moving the space elevator. But I wonder how much power that would take? How long would it take to move the upper portions? And would it even work for the upper portions...how much change in position at the base is needed to deflect the upper most tip by 100 feet?

[Uncle Martin]

I hadn't heard of the moveable base. Regardless if the elevator is a tensile or compression structure, the base will have to be MASSIVE. As you point out, the energy and time factors would be important. I've got a mental image of a turtle in the middle of an eight lane highway during rush hour. Maybe it would be more practical to use thrusters at three different altitudes to move a theoretically flexible elevator out of the way of satellites. At low Earth orbit, GPS orbit and geosync. At 62k+ miles in length, 1 mile of lateral flexibility seems very reasonable.

[lindagarrette]

Leading experts are meeting this week to take a longing look at the idea of a space elevator. The idea is a stretch, no doubt, with plenty of work to do before travelers have push-button, top floor access to space.

 

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/space_elevator_040629.html