How much reverse force would we be talking about for cable and the mounting point? Wouldn't it be pretty close to enough to pull a frigging huge tanker right out of the water? Also, when the elevator lifts something heavy into the high atmosphere, the force would increase exponentially. I'd theorize that there isn't much short of some way to magically suspend gravity that would really make a space elevator plausible.Erom wrote:Space elevators are easy, once you have unobtanium!neddiedrow wrote:Construction of a space elevator is simply not going to happen. There is no way to shield such from material impact while in space, and no way to anchor one end of it cost-effectively.
I agree, there is no proof carbon nanotubes will have the bulk properties necessary for space elevator construction, and nothing else we're ever seen comes anywhere close. Spider web is the runner up, I think, and that's not tough enough either. PLUS there is the as-of-yet unsolved problem of getting power to the "climber".
That said, the plans I have heard involve material impacts going right through the thing, but designing the strip of nanotubes to be more like a wide, curved band (think like a window shade) that can get some holes in it without failing, and would degrade over time, with a total lifetime of about a decade before it would need to be replaced.
As for the ground station, I liked the idea of anchoring it to an oceavessel, so the earth end can be bent out of the way of storm, ect. Computer models have shown this to be fairly workable.
Summary: I agree with you that space elevators are a pipe dream, but for different reasons.
New planet could possibly contain life!
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SwiftSpear
- Classic Community Lead
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The way I've seen it proposed, the ground force would just be proportional to how much you had the cable bent out of geosync at that moment. When your ship is directly under the elevator, it would be close to 0. The way that works is, you send a satelite out to Geosync orbit, and it starts unwinding the cable down toward earth. As it does this, it moves out to a higher orbit so the gravitational center of the entire system remains sitting at Geo. Gravity and centripedal force cancel out, mostly.
You miss hte cool-factor. A gigantic monolith stretching toward the heavens is way cooler than a hanging cord.AF wrote:Also, actually tethering the elevator to the ground is a stupid idea. Any serious design hgs the elevator tethered to an orbital counterweight so they can move the lower end to avoid objects.
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Machiosabre
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You forgot 2:Erom wrote:Only two things would motivate us to _really_ explore space, enough to find your "aliens", at least in the short term:
1) A real and credible threat to our existence if we do not.
2) A way to make money from it.
If (1) happens, I can see a multinational body formed to organize collective efforts to address whatever problem exists. I find this to be unlikely.
If (2) happens, we will not only remain separate nations, it will almost certainly be a private corporation who contacts your hypothetical aliens first, not a country. Seriously, what nation would give up it's sovereigty because it's more convenient for the aliens?
3) Earth gets stuffed with people.
4) I conquer earth and start espace exploration to conquer more stuff.
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KingRaptor
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