Space Elevator in 15 years?

[Eli]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs
This proposed cable is 2.5 times longer the the Earth's circumference at the Equator. If it were to come down, it'd wrap around Earth 2.5 times, probably a bit more since the Earth-bound end of it might be dragged along for a bit.

Will it really happen? I recall reading that pretty much most of the cable will just drift off into space.

[Dis]

the cable is not real heavy. It's not wider than a sheet of paper.

Although there would be terrorism concerns. Someone could fly a plane right into it. Even an unmanned plane...

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
No, Ted, that's an Orion.

He'd still hit it

[DRoseDARs]

Originally posted by Dissident
the cable is not real heavy. It's not wider than a sheet of paper.

Someone explain this to me: The article for this appeared in today's (sunday) paper and said "The cable would be about 3 feet wide and thinner than a piece of paper, but capable of supporting a payload up to 13 tons."

Huh?

Well, which is it: Thinner than paper or 3 feet wide? Or am I missing a crucial piece of the riddle?



Also amusing: They include two pictures, one of Bradley Edwards, head of the project, and an artist's graphic of the floating anchor station. There's a warning sign on the side of the platform stating, in print no bigger than that found on a freeway sign, "RESTRICTED AREA - MAINTAIN 8 MILE RADIUS"

People are going to read that at 8 miles distance? I'd be sqwinting to read that at 1/2 a mile...

[solar]

As I understand it, it is as thin as paper but 3 feet wide in the sense that a normal piece of paper is about 8 inches wide and 11 inches long.

[DRoseDARs]

Sooo it's a sheet: thin as paper and 3 feet wide by 62,000 miles long? No, that doesn't work. Thanks, but I think I'm still missing something here...

[Impaler[WrG]]

I belive thats what they were desribing a Ribbon basicaly. This has the advantage of being less suseptable to space debress because only a small hole would be punched in the ribbon by a random piece of space debree such as a nut or bolt.

Also the Discover article pointed out that the Evelator boxes would grip the ribbon with what looks like 2 belt sanders. A much simpler and reliable system then Mag lev Cohesion. Main draw back is that you cant pass someone going in the other direction. Perhaps some sections of double ribbon would be added much like on train tracks.

Also keep in mind that a Space Elevator Cable becomes progressivly thinner closer to the earth as the bottom of the cable need only be strong enough to carry the Boxes that are on it. Each progressivly higher piece of cable need to hold all the weight of what is below it so it becomes thicker and thicker untill you reach Geosycronus orbit. The dimention they give sounds reasonable for the bottom of the cable but not the top which just off the top of my head would probly need to be 3 feet wide AND 3 feet thick.

[Chemical Ollie]

Ridicoulous. Rebuilding WTC New York in 15 years is a more likely project.

[Provost Harrison]

Ridicoulous

Hey, that is Paiktis's real surname

[Provost Harrison]

I must say though: that would be one f**k of a lot of muzak to have to endure

[jdd2007]

Well *****es ... GOING UP

[DRoseDARs]

Aerosmith -
"Love in an elevator! Livin' it up when I'm goin'
doooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooown!"



Edit: Fixed to be more annoying

[DRoseDARs]

Originally posted by Impaler[WrG]
I belive thats what they were desribing a Ribbon basicaly. This has the advantage of being less suseptable to space debress because only a small hole would be punched in the ribbon by a random piece of space debree such as a nut or bolt.

Also the Discover article pointed out that the Evelator boxes would grip the ribbon with what looks like 2 belt sanders. A much simpler and reliable system then Mag lev Cohesion. Main draw back is that you cant pass someone going in the other direction. Perhaps some sections of double ribbon would be added much like on train tracks.

Also keep in mind that a Space Elevator Cable becomes progressivly thinner closer to the earth as the bottom of the cable need only be strong enough to carry the Boxes that are on it. Each progressivly higher piece of cable need to hold all the weight of what is below it so it becomes thicker and thicker untill you reach Geosycronus orbit. The dimention they give sounds reasonable for the bottom of the cable but not the top which just off the top of my head would probly need to be 3 feet wide AND 3 feet thick.

So is it a ribbon or a cable? A ribbon has flat sides, a cable is rounded. Or is it both, depending on where you look along its length?

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Impaler[WrG]
I belive thats what they were desribing a Ribbon basicaly. This has the advantage of being less suseptable to space debress because only a small hole would be punched in the ribbon by a random piece of space debree such as a nut or bolt.

For one thing, a cable is much harder to be hit than a really wide and thin ribbon.

Also, when the ribbon is fully stressed, a hole can cause the whole thing to rip apart.

[DanS]

On the other hand, a ribbon would have a high surface area and really low terminal velocity. This would seem to make it rather safe from the doomsday scenarios offered by DRose.