Stairway to heaven

London Telegraph ^

[operation clinton cleanup]

"In one experiment, a sheet of nanotubes one-thousandth the thickness of a human hair could support 50,000 times its own mass."

It's going to take more than the strength of 50,000 human hairs! Just kidding.... this idea is interesting, but I think others will overtake it before it is feasible.

[Moonman62]

Hurricanes don't hit the equator. The weather is almost always calm there. Sea Launch has been using that to its advantage for a few years now.

[manwiththehands]

I'm tellin' ya, nanotechnology is where EVERYTHING is going.

[operation clinton cleanup]

How would people be able to not start up conversations for that long? Would they be allowed to make eye contact or would they have to look up at the ceiling?

Maybe I could finally prove my theory that the more people on an elevator is directly proportional to the time it takes to get to the next floor.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Maybe I could finally prove my theory that the more people on an elevator is directly proportional to the time it takes to get to the next floor.

Well of course, the more people on board, the more people hitting the Mars, Saturn, and Uranus buttons over and over even though they are clearly lit up, and the elevator waits until no more buttons are being pushed.

[chickenlips]

Does this mean when I tell my kids to "think big", I am giving them bad advice?

[solitas]

ping

[operation clinton cleanup]

and then all the little brats that press all the buttons!

[ExGeeEye]

I get it. Good one.

[operation clinton cleanup]

I'm tellin' ya, nanotechnology is where EVERYTHING is going.

Yes, it may be the answer to everything, or the end of everything!

[Tribune7]

You know sometimes words have two meanings. :-)

[Tribune7]

You know sometimes words have two meanings. :-)

[ExGeeEye]

ok, you can stop now :)

[KevinDavis]

[U S Army EOD]

Yes but we have had an increase in technology since then. Haven't gotten much smarter but still the increase in technology.

[narby]

Space debris is the Achilles heal of this thing. Since the thing will have to extend beyond geosync in order to counterbalance it, every satellite lower than perhaps 30k miles WILL hit it some day. Every one of them. I'd bet it would have a strike a day.

Between the work to remove every significant chunk of space debris, and the launches to put the first elevator in operation, a space elevator is a non-starter.

The way to go to space is a turbine/ram/scram/rocket aircraft that can fly literally every day with only fuel required. Such an aircraft CAN be built with existing technology if we get at it instead of fooling around doing Apollo 2.0. Granted, it will not have heavy lift capability, but large structures can be launched with throw away boosters until we get space manufacturing in place.

Apollo 2.0 and space elevator talk only distract us from what is doable.

[MarineBrat]

I've done "Stairway to Heaven" on Christmas Eve in Cambodia!

[inquest]

"Yes there are two paths I can go by, but in the long run, you know I always change the road I'm on..."

[Drammach]

The unit only weighs 7 tons but can carry several people and 13 tons of cargo for a trip of several days duration?

I see another problem as well..
See post #4.. Lower right corner..

The orbital anchor is 600 tons..
The Nano-tube ribbon weighs 800 tons..
I don't think the laws of gravity will allow for this..

[tet68]

What happens if you're stuck between floors?

If the unit weighs 7 tons, how much is taken up by
the climbing/braking equipment, how much by crew habitat,
how much by cargo storage. Say you divide it up equally
that only leaves slightly over two tons for habitat.