Ok... not actually duct tape... but it looks a lot like it!

Anyway, has anybody seen the article in Discover on "Space Elivators?" The idea is for a space shuttle to string a 3 foot wide strip of carbon nanotube material (for strength) up to a distance of 62,000 miles up into space and place a counterbalance at the other end. The strip will be held up where it is by centrifigul force. The only thing left to do is get in your space craft (or send up your unmanned space craft) and let go at whatever point you want.

It sounds too good to be true, but I can't really find anything wrong with it. It sounds pretty solid.

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sounds like the beginning of those towers in 3001
barely trust it for mail, on first glance, tho

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go n tell yer master we been charged by gawd with a sacred quest, mk ?
don't worry so

I think it was Dubya Bush talking a while back about giving funding to NASA for building a space elevator. If it was him and even if it wasn't, I think that project is canned now with Dubya's new Mars vision.

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That is the order of things

The whole space elevator idea reminds my of the tunnel between the U.K and France. It's been talked about for years and years. The first plan was put forward in 1802!

It's one of those things that will take up a huge amount of work and money but if you look to the future it will save a huge amount also.
Proving once and for all there is such thing as a free launch!

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http://boinc.mundayweb.com/one/stats...630/prj:6/.png

A lot more materials research is needed before building the thing can even be talked about. It would, IMHO, be a much better technology to invest in than the Mars mission. If we actually built a space elevator, it would likely cut the cost of said Mars mission by a sizeable amount and allow much more diversity in spacecraft design.

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I personally find the idea of a space elevator facinating and have been superficially following the progress on it's study for a number of years. The technology to actually build the thing today is still not here, but I also don't think the hurtles to overcome are as large as most people think they are. An interesting paper discussing the problems and potential solutions can be found here space elevator report
IMO if we are ever going to have a permanent presence in space we are going to need to find a way other than rocket power to loft payloads. The space elevator is the best alternative I have seen yet.
Now if we can only find a way to better produce those darn carbon nanotubules :-?

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http://www.orionsarm.com/historical/...elevators.html

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