What the.... alternative space elevator

[RizzoTheRat]

Anyone seen this?
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/17/spa...

Not sure I'd fancy being in an aircraft trying to land on a 20km tall inflatable tower! Nutters.

[Halmyre]

RizzoTheRat said:

Anyone seen this?
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/17/spa...

Not sure I'd fancy being in an aircraft trying to land on a 20km tall inflatable tower! Nutters.

I'll have whatever he's having.

[Some Gump]

wow, an infinitely strong, wind impervious stick. Easy to engineer.

[xRIEx]

Maybe they should try building a 1km tall structure, before going to 5km, then 10km, then 15km, then 20km.

[MrBrightSi]

I've been hearing about space elevators for years and years.

Be nice to see one attempted, it would take a lot of the complexities of exiting earths atmosphere out of the question. However, the im guessing the complexities of keeping something suspended in orbit while being tethered to the earth is just as hard but JFK said it best:

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

[xRIEx]

MrBrightSi said:

Be nice to see one attempted, it would take a lot of the complexities of exiting earths atmosphere out of the question.

I'm sure some very smart people have done the sums for both sides of the argument, but how much energy will it take to pump the required fuel for the air/spacecraft up 20km, along with raising an elevator of x mass?

I suppose they can use regenerative methods when the elevator 'falls' to earth, but still.

[RizzoTheRat]

In theory it makes some sense. It takes a rocket a hell of a lot of energy to fight gravity and drag and reach 20km (although they're going pretty quick by the time they get there), and they need a lot of excess thrust to carry the fuel needed to get there. White Knight released SpaceShip 1/2 at about 15km, and while that was about height rather than orbital velocities, launching from 20km stationary is probably more efficient than launching from 15km at a few hundred knots.

In practice it's not just one wave short of a shipwreck, it's missing the whole ocean and the boat!

A true space elevator would protrude out further than geostationary orbit (36,000km) so the whole things in tension, think they've got a way to go yet.

[Toaster]

I posted this in the mars thread and only just spotted this one so here goes:

Yuri Artsutanov came up with the Space elevator which is now technically feasible each one could lift 1500 tonnes per annum

http://spaceref.com/space-elevator

Also you will find him here https://youtu.be/UK-q6f8SUCE

Couple of nice videos here showing how this would work http://www.spaceward.org/elevator

Edited by Toaster on Friday 21st August 21:39