it would be cool, but it seems highly unlikly just in principle, i mean how likely do you think it will be that someone will build a space elevator? i think this is just one of those "after the colombia disaster" things

I rule the world incognito!

The concept sounds good.
But it would take a lot of material to build a carbon nanotube construction like that; I don't think it is impossible, though.
On the other hand, bringing materials into the cosmos for about $100 a kilogram versus $10,000 to $40,000 per kilogram on a shuttle flight, makes it worth investigating.



-"If it aint Dutch, it aint much"-

Life on earth would never be the same after building one of these... The problem is building it, obviously. By the time you could convince anybody to build one of these, cheap conventional access to space will probably be possible. Then again, maybe 1 or 2 hundred years down the road if we don't have it by then, we will be ready to build one of these.

Can you just imagine the length of time you're gonna be forced to listen to ELEVATOR MUSIC?!??!?! AAARGHHH!!

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Most interesting article, thanks Major.
Hard to believe in that. For me, at least.

Well I think it WILL happen, its just a question of time, ALOT of time actually, but it would be AWSOME to have that.

I think there will actually be some INCREASED NASA budgeting actually

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I almost got stoned for posting about the same thing...

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Michael"TRAPPER"Needham
The Weak Shall Perish

...Yes sir thats right... just drop your cargo or I can open your hull with my twin plasma blasters, and take the cargo for myself.......Thank you, have nice flight.

Edited by - TRAPPER on 05-02-2003 05:42:50

This is a pretty old idea. I have a book by Arthur C Clarke about this kind of thing, I don't remember the title but it was pretty cool. When he wrote it they didn't know about nanotubes so his characters used diamond filaments to build it. Still, if this became a reality the only way to get stuff into space cheaper would be to invent some kind of anti-gravity device.

Let's get those missiles ready to destroy the universe!!

I thought of this idea a couple of years ago, but didn't think it would be realizable..
In my idea, the "tube" would be connected to perhaps an astroid or something lange enough to pull the tube straight..


-------> When playing is taken seriously...

I have to admit I didn't read the article so don't flame me after I'm finished with my reply

The connection with the earth shouldn't be that hard to establish, just a platform somewhere in the ocean. The connection line: nanatubes. But to what do you connect it in space? It can't be a space station, they move around earth in an eclipse motion. Same goes for an asteroid. The eclipse falls quicker than it raises (sorry if it is unclear, but scientific guys will know what I mean, otherwise I can explain it with a picture). I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.


"God bless this acid house!"
"I was near the scene of another crime at the time, officer."

Wiz, they could attach it to basically anything they wanted to. It could be a space station, however, the object would have to be in geosynchronous orbit. That's the key thing, it means it holds its position steady over Earth. The real difficulty here is strong enough nanotubes and long enough nanotubes.


"We're almost there." - Jorg

That's what I mean