Recreation Commons - Tenth Floor : A View from the Space Elevator

[Jamski]

No, dammit, around ME

-Jam

[Skanky Burns]

As long as I get another drink soon, I don't care who its revolving around.
Although the room is starting to revolve around me...

[Jamski]

Well, I'm off to get hammered and play Risk. Think of me

-Jam

[Skanky Burns]

Well, I'm off to finish my accounting assignment. Your activity sounds like more fun.

[Illuminatus]

Originally posted by Makahlua
* Makahlua twirls the telescope about again

Here's that Sombrero :

Ahem, who put my current wallpaper here?

[Illuminatus]

Monocerotis and Andromeda were my previous wallpapers! Now I have to change my background again! I come into a bar and look at my wallpaper! Stop it! Find you own Hubble photo

Now seriously, does anyone here use Hubble wallpapers too?

[GeoModder]

Originally posted by obstructor
Now seriously, does anyone here use Hubble wallpapers too?

No, recently I switched to a Nexus one

[Makahlua]

I've got a favorite actor of mine for my wall paper right now, but it's been many things, including Hubble ones over the past few years

[Ouro_827]

[Skanky Burns]

I had a picture of Jupiter as my wallpaper for many years. Until recently when a certain redhead took its place.

[Impaler[WrG]]

HEY WAIT A SECOND!! NO ONE HAS BUILT THE SPACE ELEVATOR!!

Your all just in a Planitarium you fool!!


On a side note - Interesting facts about building a sapce elivator. The Elivator Cable would not need to be uniform in diamiter. As each part of the Cable is supporting the weight of the cable below it the cables base need be only strong enough to support what ever kind of elevator "box" your going to use (likly a mag lev "train" of large preshurized moduals). As the Cable Rises high and higher it would thicken to support the additional weight, keep in mind though that the weight of most of the cable is much less then it would be on the surface of the planet as its distance from the planets center of mass is much greater. The thickest part of the cable would be at the Geosycronus orbital distance. Their could be some kind of "station" at that point if we wish but contrary to popular opinion the cable dose not end their. Their needs to be a counter-weight to keep the system balanced. All the stuff below Geosyncronus orbit will be traveling around the earth at a speed slower then that nessary for orbit and will thus want to fall. Mass at Geosyncronus orbit will be in Balance and neither pull the elivator down nor pull it out (up). So to balance the lower part of the cable we have an anchor mass at the end of some portion of additional cable above Geosycnous orbit. This mass and its Cable will be moving faster then is nessary for a stable orbit at that distance and will thus exert a upward pull, much like a ball being twereld on the end of a string. The further the mass is away from the planet the greater the force it will exert per unit of mass. The most likly candidate for such a mass would be a small asteroid (particularly one rich in Carbon to provide matrial to make the Cable with). The Cable would now tapper in reverse growing thinner as it aproatches the asteroid but remaining much thicker then the portion conected to the Earth. Any station located on that asteroid would experience artifical Gravity due to the Centripial force, the adsact amount being dependent on the total length of the cable above Geosyncronus. This also provides an ideal way to launch objects into deep space. Once cargo passes the Geosyncrounus point it will begin to be pulled outward, by simply not aplying any braking force to the cargo it will accelerate to incredible speeds as it travels down the Cable and with a convenietly placed tunnel in the anchor it will come shooting out like a bullet. With proper timeing this would send a space craft into nearly any part of the solar system without ANY fuel expenditure (normaly leaving Geosynronus orbit for some other part of the solar system requires a modest rocket burn).

[Jamski]

Nice idea. Why doesn't bloody NASA get off their arses and build one?

-Jam

[Skanky Burns]

With our current materials technology the cable would need to be several kilometeres* wide at its widest point in order to have enough strength.

* Figure half-remembered from a book I read several months ago. Take it as you will.

[Jamski]

Not really a "cable" if its wider than most cities, I would argue.

-Jam

[Trithemius]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
With our current materials technology the cable would need to be several kilometeres* wide at its widest point in order to have enough strength.

Originally posted by Jamski
Not really a "cable" if its wider than most cities, I would argue.

Hence Super Tensile Solids.