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Re: Space elevators



At 08:15 AM 10/9/00 -0500, you 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.
......>
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

My wife was quick to point out the standing wave on the pull chain for a
celing fan in our favorite breakfast place. My guess is that the "elevator
cable" would hum a lot with lots of opportunities for resonant behavior as
the "cars" move along. Should make "Galloping Gertie" seem like a trivial
problem.

Tom Ford