Re: Space elevators

["Prof. John P. Ertel (wizard)" <jpe@NADN.NAVY.MIL>]

I'm afraid that I cannot resist the comment that someone's elevator at
NASA may well not quite reach the top floor.

There are many of these "blue sky" proposals that are funded every year.
The only comments that I can make are:
 * maybe there is a reason that the "normal funding channels"
   will pass on most of these BS (Blue Sky) proposals;
 * sooner or later, someone will hit on something which bears
   real fruit and this will justify all of the other BS proposals.

Maybe I'm an old fuddy-duddy, but I just can't "set aside 'minor
engineering details'" like the very first ones asked here in this forum:

1) Just how long a string can we have that can even support itself?

2) How well could this string stand up under the load of typical wind
speeds in our upper atmosphere?

3) and many, many more ....

Thanks to Rick Strickert for giving us/me a reminder of some of the more
"clever" proposals that go forward and are funded.  Now I know why I have
such a low percentage for being funded --- I'm just not clever enough.

+=================================+

On Mon, 9 Oct 2000, Rick Strickert wrote:

> > In the local paper Sunday there was a column by Kent Faulk of The
> > Birmingham News about space elevators.  The article was based on a report,
> > "Space Elevators: An Advanced Earth-Space Infrastructure for the New
> > Millennium", by David Smitherman, technical manager the Advance Projects
> > Office of  NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.
> >
> > The plan is to attach a carbon nanotube cable  between a 31-mile tall tower
> > built in international waters along the equator and an orbiting space
> > station 22,000 miles in space.  According to the writer - "At the end of
> > the cable above the station would be a large counterbalance or space anchor
> > to keep the cable from falling back to Earth.  The report suggests using an
> > asteroid that would be pushed into position as an anchor."
> >
> > Electromagnetic cars (the size of railroad cars)  would ride along
> > the cable on up to six tracks.  A depiction of the space elevator is
> > given at    http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/CHARTS/pdf/108-c.pdf.
> >
> > Setting  'minor engineering details' aside,  is there any problem with the
> > physics of attaching a cable between earth and some geosynchronous station
> > orbiting in space?
> >
> > Rick Strickert
> > Austin, TX

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