Science fiction or science fact.

[Kritish]

its possible but, the meterial holding it all together is 10x stronger than any metal on our planet, its some nano carbon (pic below) and its the strongets meterial in the world, this is what the whole structure is made out of, im sure it could probably withstand anything.

and if not it woulnt matter, its replaceable and it wont harm anyone or anything if it fell to earth.

as said in the q and a

I doubt it's as strong as Adamatium.

 

[Ice-man]

well maybe if Adamantium was real...

 

[ScottyBBadd]

There will never be a space elevator on earth. The biggest reason against it is gravity. You have to have a material stoung enough to haul and reach escape veloicit, but lightweight enough that is does not collapse upon its self. Said material does not exist. Therefore a space elevator will never exist.

 

[jimmy]

That's so rad!

 

[Ice-man]

There will never be a space elevator on earth. The biggest reason against it is gravity. You have to have a material stoung enough to haul and reach escape veloicit, but lightweight enough that is does not collapse upon its self. Said material does not exist. Therefore a space elevator will never exist.

thats why they're figuring out how to turn those nanotube carbon molocules, into fibers, so they can make some meterials, and rope.

they already figured evrything out, if you dont belive this will work wach the science channel, channel 170 u.s, there gonna talk about it on future week, january 29th.

 

[Noir]

Wouldn't work.. You'd have to place it exactly at the highest point and dead center on the equator, or else the pull of the equator because it buldges would bend the ribbon and make it dangerous..

 

[Ice-man]

^ they are building it on the equator, besides im sure they know what there doing, its been in plans sice the 60's.

 

[Arkady Rossovich]

I dont think such a thing will be ready by 2020,imagine how such a thing would cost..and there might be some people opposed to it.

 

[Noir]

^ they are building it on the equator, besides im sure they know what there doing, its been in plans sice the 60's.

Your forgetting the Star Wars plan has been in place since like 85? Dude, Its not going to happen.

 

[Leto Atrides]

Your forgetting the Star Wars plan has been in place since like 85? Dude, Its not going to happen.

And you're forgetting that they were never actually going to build that in the first place, it was more than anything a ploy by the Reagan administration to instill confidence in people. So that's a terrible example.

I personally think this should be built, but from a logistical standpoint, won't be until (and if) there is already space infrastructure. It's a huge investment for "we're probably going to build space stations, launch platforms to deeper space, etc.".

However, if we already had stations and what not it probably would be cost-effective and useful.

Also, other skyhook technologies might be better than space elevators. There are alot of designs.

And to people trying to point out flaws in the design, it's not like you're the first person to imagine a meteor, centrifugal force, gravity, terrorists, etc. affecting it in the 40 years this has been imagined. For every complaint you have there are a dozen theoretical solutions to them by people much smarter than any of us.

 

[Ice-man]

^ thank you, that what i was aiming to say

 

[DorkyFresh]

i say those smart minds need to focus on something a little bit more important than making the world's first elevator to space...like say global warming?

to whoever said it'd be a target for terrorists......the WTC was targeted for a helluva lot more reasons than just because it was a tall building. there are plenty of skyscrapers in the world that are even taller than the Twin Towers were...not all of them have been subject to terrorism. hell, according to the government, the Pentagon was a target for terrorists...

 

[Dew k. Mosi]

This has been done already. It's called the Umbilicus and it was invented by Dr. Clayton Forrester.

 

[Ice-man]

so its a genus of plant invented by the fictional main character of war of the worlds? or is it the mad scientist from mystery science theater?

 

[Dew k. Mosi]

Lalala!

 

[Fried Gold]

What if a meteor hits it? That would make sense wouldn't it.

Meteors hit earth all the time, yet they still build stuff.

 

[Noir]

Meteors hit earth all the time, yet they still build stuff.

Yeah.. Well factories building things on earth aren't the size of a lamppost and extenting from the earth all the out into space in a geostationary orbit.

 

[Ice-man]

More news on the elevator.

scientists finaly made the carbon nanotube rope.

A slim cable for a space elevator has been built stretching a mile into the sky, enabling robots to scrabble some way up and down the line.

LiftPort Group, a private US company on a quest to build a space elevator by April 2018, stretched the strong carbon ribbon 1 mile (1.6 km) into the sky from the Arizona desert outside Phoenix in January tests, it announced on Monday.

The company's lofty objective will sound familiar to followers of NASA's Centennial Challenges programme. The desired outcome is a 62,000-mile (99,779 km) tether that robotic lifters – powered by laser beams from Earth – can climb, ferrying cargo, satellites and eventually people into space.

The recent test followed a September 2005 demonstration in which LiftPort's robots climbed 300 metres of ribbon tethered to the Earth and pulled taut by a large balloon. This time around, the company tested an improved cable pulled aloft by three balloons.

Rock solid

To make the cable, researchers sandwiched three carbon-fibre composite strings between four sheets of fibreglass tape, creating a mile-long cable about 5 centimetres wide and no thicker than about six sheets of paper.

"For this one, the real critical test was making a string strong enough," says Michael Laine, president of LiftPort. "We made a cable that was stationed by the balloons at a mile high for 6 hours…it was rock solid."

A platform linking the balloons and the tether was successfully launched and held in place during the test. LiftPort calls the platform HALE, High Altitude Long Endurance, and plans to market it for aerial observation and communication purposes.

But the test was not completely without problems.

The company's battery-operated robotic lifters were designed to climb up and down the entire length of the ribbon but only made it about 460 m above ground. Laine told New Scientist that the robots had worked properly during preparatory tests and his team is still analysing the problem.

Carbon nanotubes

In March, LiftPort hopes to set up a HALE system in Utah's Mars Desert Research Station and maintain it for three weeks. Then, later in the spring, Laine says he wants to test a 2-mile (3.2-km) tether with robots scaling to at least half way up.

Laine aims to produce a functioning space elevator by 2018 – a date his company chose in 2003 based on a NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts study, which said an elevator could be built in 15 years. "This is a baby step, but it's part of the process," he says of LiftPort's recent test.

The idea is to build the actual elevator's ribbon from ultra-strong carbon nanotube composites and to have solar-powered lifters carry 100 tonnes of cargo into space once a week, 50 times a year.

 

[ScottyBBadd]

But the test was not completely without problems.

The company's battery-operated robotic lifters were designed to climb up and down the entire length of the ribbon but only made it about 460 m above ground. Laine told New Scientist that the robots had worked properly during preparatory tests and his team is still analysing the problem.

My point exactly. The material needs to be light enough to make escape velocity, but strong enough to carry all the nessacary cargo. This clearly was not. Having this operational by 2020 is unrealistic. Maybe 2120 or 2220, but not 2020.

 

[Ice-man]

you never know, 2020 is still a ways off, i think another 12 -13 years.

so maybe by than they would have worked out all the bugs, and can start building.

 

[ScottyBBadd]

you never know, 2020 is still a ways off, i think another 12 -13 years.

so maybe by than they would have worked out all the bugs, and can start building.

I will concede 12-13 years are a long time. A lot can happen, like a manned mission to Mars, A Moon base, maybe even elect an Independant or 3rd party candidate President. However is it realistic. It took a considerable ammount of time before the first airplane got off the ground. Just a thought.