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The Elevator to Space - 11/7/2009 12:44:31 PM   
TheHeretic


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Status: offline 		This is pretty cool stuff!

LOS ANGELES – A Seattle team has collected a $900,000 prize in a NASA-backed competition to develop the concept of an elevator to space — an idea spurred by science fiction novels.
The team's robotic machine raced up more than 2,950 feet of cable dangling from a helicopter.
Powered by a ground-based laser pointed up at the robot's photo voltaic cells that converted the light into electricity, the LaserMotive machine completed one of its climbs in about three minutes and 48 seconds, good for second-place money.
The contest is intended to encourage development of a theory that originated in the 1960s and was popularized by Arthur C. Clarke's 1979 novel "The Fountains of Paradise."
Space elevators are envisioned as a way to reach space without the risk and expense of rockets.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091107/ap_on_sc/us_space_elevator

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RE: The Elevator to Space - 11/7/2009 12:54:26 PM   
SL4V3M4YB3


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Status: offline 		Just imagine how many numbers on the control panel for that they'll be. Also if it gets stuck will there be some alarm button to activate some wimpy little bell, that nobody hears, in the lobby?

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RE: The Elevator to Space - 11/7/2009 12:57:09 PM   
Aileen1968


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Status: offline 		Didn't Charlie accomplish this many years ago when he burst through the ceiling of the chocolate factory????

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RE: The Elevator to Space - 11/7/2009 1:00:31 PM   
dreamerdreaming


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Status: offline 		WOW, thanks!!! 

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RE: The Elevator to Space - 11/7/2009 1:44:45 PM   
DarkSteven


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Status: offline 		A little more than half a mile... NASA is going to have to redefine "space".

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RE: The Elevator to Space - 11/7/2009 3:49:48 PM   
DomKen


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Status: offline 		If this can be perfected then lifting objects to low earth orbit could cost several orders of magnitude less than it does today.

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RE: The Elevator to Space - 11/7/2009 4:06:47 PM   
TheHeretic


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quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

If this can be perfected then lifting objects to low earth orbit could cost several orders of magnitude less than it does today.



And who knows what kind of technology might spin loose from the attempt? 

I'm wondering how many square miles of windmills we'd need to power such an animal. 

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RE: The Elevator to Space - 11/7/2009 4:08:13 PM   
windchymes


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Aileen1968

Didn't Charlie accomplish this many years ago when he burst through the ceiling of the chocolate factory????


That's EXACTLY what I was going to say! lol

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RE: The Elevator to Space - 11/7/2009 6:02:04 PM   
DomKen


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quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

If this can be perfected then lifting objects to low earth orbit could cost several orders of magnitude less than it does today.



And who knows what kind of technology might spin loose from the attempt? 

I'm wondering how many square miles of windmills we'd need to power such an animal. 

In theory a lot of power could come from the device itself. Obviously power is needed to go up but coming down is pure gravity and power could be generated from the descent. Additional power would of course be available from solar panels at the orbital terminus.

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RE: The Elevator to Space - 11/7/2009 6:16:58 PM   
pahunkboy


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Status: offline 		Umm.  Not to be a downer here-- but how does one then return home?

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RE: The Elevator to Space - 11/7/2009 7:29:30 PM   
windchymes


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quote:

ORIGINAL: pahunkboy

Umm.  Not to be a downer here-- but how does one then return home?


Push G?

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RE: The Elevator to Space - 11/7/2009 7:59:43 PM   
TheHeretic


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quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen


quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

If this can be perfected then lifting objects to low earth orbit could cost several orders of magnitude less than it does today.



And who knows what kind of technology might spin loose from the attempt? 

I'm wondering how many square miles of windmills we'd need to power such an animal. 

In theory a lot of power could come from the device itself. Obviously power is needed to go up but coming down is pure gravity and power could be generated from the descent. Additional power would of course be available from solar panels at the orbital terminus.



Gravity isn't going to be this things friend in either direction, Ken.  It seems like it is going to have to be under power both ways.  Probably less juice for a controlled descent, but it certainly can't just drop.  I'd also suspect that all the solar juice they could get at the top would be wanted for whatever kind of station would be needed up there.

Maybe by that time, we can just run it on a nice fusion reactor.

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RE: The Elevator to Space - 11/7/2009 8:50:28 PM   
DomKen


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Status: offline 		Actually the design stuff I've seen posits an unpowered descent using a brake to control descent speed. The usual assumption is that the brake could be of regenerative sort that would produce some power. Conveniently the orbital terminus could have as large a field of panels as was desired.

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RE: The Elevator to Space - 11/7/2009 9:08:18 PM   
NeedToUseYou


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quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen


quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

If this can be perfected then lifting objects to low earth orbit could cost several orders of magnitude less than it does today.



And who knows what kind of technology might spin loose from the attempt? 

I'm wondering how many square miles of windmills we'd need to power such an animal. 

In theory a lot of power could come from the device itself. Obviously power is needed to go up but coming down is pure gravity and power could be generated from the descent. Additional power would of course be available from solar panels at the orbital terminus.



Gravity isn't going to be this things friend in either direction, Ken.  It seems like it is going to have to be under power both ways.  Probably less juice for a controlled descent, but it certainly can't just drop.  I'd also suspect that all the solar juice they could get at the top would be wanted for whatever kind of station would be needed up there.

Maybe by that time, we can just run it on a nice fusion reactor.


I'm not seeing why it would require any more power than an earth bound elevator of equivalent size. Of course it's a longer trip is all.

My understand of the powering mechanism is they are going to shoot lasers at the floor or ceiling(if going down), and some kind of electrical generation will take place from that energy. The Tether wouldn't move, rather the elevator would grip the tether and pull itself up it.

The whole energy thing is not going to be an issue if you had one of these, solar panels in space are more productive than earth based ones, just from the increased intensity and time of exposure. The cost of deploying them now is largely getting them into space, which the space elevator would address.

Also, there is no reason if we can get into earth orbit for free essentially(compartively), that we can't put all kinds of energy generating devices on the moon or around the moon. Those plots of land on the moon would actually be worth something if this thing ever got built.

Anyway, from what I've read the real problem is 100% about developing the material the tether would be made from. So, far nothing but carbon nanotubes would be strong enough, and they at present can't make them that long.

I wish I were ultra rich, I'd dump a billion into figuring out how to build the thing. It would be the most important thing since fire was tamed.






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RE: The Elevator to Space - 11/7/2009 9:19:28 PM   
Sanity


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I read about this, I think it was in Omni Magazine, around 1980. Part of the idea was that its upper parts would be like satellites placed in geosynchronous orbit, and some of the power could be gained from directly leveraging descending loads against ascending loads or using the gravity powered loads coming down to pull other loads up thereby at least partially braking the descending load.

And then I realized that what was being discussed was the tower of babel... what can I say, I had a different mindset back then. Though, if we build it the aliens may not like it one bit.


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RE: The Elevator to Space - 11/8/2009 1:41:34 AM   
ShoreBound149


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RE: The Elevator to Space - 11/8/2009 2:55:30 AM   
housesub4you


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Status: offline 		With my luck, I will get on the dam thing after the child before me hits all the bottoms to make every stop

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RE: The Elevator to Space - 11/8/2009 8:45:38 AM   
sophia37


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Status: offline 		If I understand this correctly, in other articles, it's been written that there is a vision of a Hotel type structure, at the top of the elevator. This is the first step toward that future. This article did not spell that out. In other words, you go up and you stay for a while. You dont just ride up and down. Its takes all day to get up there as well. 

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