Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Space Elevator Games

People are trying to build precursors for a real space elevator. I like the idea, but I'm dubious of the technical feasibility.
Tags: news, space exploration
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  • 10 comments

Deleted comment

ysabetwordsmith

Re: Liftport

ysabetwordsmith

November 7 2009, 02:55:26 UTC 11 years ago

Wow, that is quite an accomplishment! A mile is a long cable indeed. I wish them luck with their beanstalk.
siliconshaman

siliconshaman

November 7 2009, 02:12:12 UTC 11 years ago

It may or may not be technically feasible now...but it's 100% certain that if we don't try and build it, then the technology won't exist.
ysabetwordsmith

Good Point

ysabetwordsmith

November 7 2009, 02:56:09 UTC 11 years ago

That is certainly true.
datalore

datalore

November 7 2009, 02:37:38 UTC 11 years ago

One of those three teams was from the University where I work! Go USST! Actually they didn't win, the Seattle team got closest and actually won $900,000, not the full prize, but hey.
ysabetwordsmith

Yay!

ysabetwordsmith

November 7 2009, 02:53:13 UTC 11 years ago

Go team! That's exciting.
fayanora

Off topic

fayanora

November 7 2009, 02:54:14 UTC 11 years ago

I just saw on the news here that Fannie Mae is starting to let people whose homes have been foreclosed to start leasing them instead of being kicked out: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fannie6-2009nov06,0,4259740.story
valdary

valdary

November 7 2009, 10:35:13 UTC 11 years ago

Arthur Clarke was right about satellites,

It wouldn't surprise me if he were right about space elevators too.

They should call the first passenger carrying capsule to run up the elevator Serendip in his honour
ysabetwordsmith

Yes...

ysabetwordsmith

November 7 2009, 16:10:00 UTC 11 years ago

That would be lovely.
msminlr

msminlr

November 8 2009, 15:15:16 UTC 11 years ago

If you read all the way to the end of the various coverages of this you'll find a quote from Jordin Kare of the LaserMotive team saying that THEY aren't all that sold on the space elevator concept themselves. But the competition gave them a reasonable venue to test their beam-power concept, so they entered.
ysabetwordsmith

Thoughts

ysabetwordsmith

November 8 2009, 15:27:56 UTC 11 years ago

Last I heard, the limiting factor was the cable. We don't have a material that is strong enough to support its own weight over the distance required. However, a mile up is quite impressive -- I wouldn't have expected people to get that far with what we have. There is always a possibility that someone will come up with a new technique or material that will work.

  • A Little Slice of Terramagne: YardMap

    Sadly the main program is dormant, but the YardMap concept is awesome, and many of its informative articles remain. YardMap was a citizen science…

  • Goldenrod Gall Contents

    Apparently all kinds of things go on inside goldenrod galls, beyond the caterpillars who make them. Fascinating. I've seen the galls but haven't…

  • Science and Spirituality

    Here's an article about science and spirituality, sort of. It doesn't have a very wide view of either. Can you be scientific and spiritual? This…