Question: What is a space elevator?
Let me explain. Space elevators are a device that connects the ground, literally, to space... via a cable. This was proposed in the late 19th century and has since been fodder for science fiction. Arthur C. Clarke is famous for making the device a pivotal issue and practically a character in several of his books. Why the fascination, you might ask? Well before I answer that, here's some scientific context.
A space elevator consists of three main components. A tether, an anchor, and a carriage system. The anchor consists of an orbiting satellite that (at least, as far as I can figure) will keep the cable tensioned through centripetal (not centrifugal, which is not the correct term) and allow climbers (or gondolas) to travel up the tether (but probably not down).
Probably not down, you say? Confused by the many brackets in the last paragraph? Well most people figure that the carriages used to thicken the cable (think weaving robots) will be most efficient if used to build up the counterweight at the end of the rope, and "down" will come a lot later, probably not until we start sending people.
How cool! But it gets more fantastic. They want to power the cars by either
a) Shooting lasers at them. Seriously.
b) Using the SUPERCONDUCTIVITYof the CARBON NANOTUBE structure of a second, parallel cable. This would require building two cables. Out of motherfucking carbon nanotubes.
Carbon nanotubes were discovered in 1991, and are long fibres of nano-scale carbon tubes that are both stupendously strong and fantastically light.
And the first person to sort out the counterweight, cable and car powering methods is instantly god. You will own space. Literally. No one can compete with this technology. Whichever country gets this first will lower the cost of putting objects into space by so much that chances are the economic boost gained will make that country so fabulously rich that they'll be able to construct cables anywhere and monopolize the space cable industry. Lets put it in economic context: It costs eleven thousand dollars per kilogram of whatever you want to put into space. An elevator could lower this to 200$ at the start, and who knows how little after establishment. That means space based industry, like zero gravity manufacturing and things like that will instantly be ~50 times less insane.
So there you go. If this technology is pioneered by the good old USA, good game. If its pioneered by the Japanese (who actually already have a program working on doing just that), prepare to be assaulted by the most technologically advanced space ninjas you've ever seen. I'm talking actual space pikachu robots that shoot lightning out of their eyes and crush cities with each footstep, spreading mayhem and ichiban as far as the eye can see.
The space cable is the future.
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3 comments:
What if terrorists crash a plane into it? They'll have to beef up defense like crazy and kill anyone and anything that comes close..what about nuclear attacks or strong winds like a hurricane.... or an earthquake ? could it hold up if the ground shook violently ? Should we start putting garbage up there maybe .. or nuclear waste?
We should absolutely start putting garbage and nuclear waste up there. Space is perfect for that. Garbage will be flash-frozen in space, and easily sent into the sun, which I may add will never be silenced no matter how much garbage we chuck up there. Any radioactive elements can head into the sun too, because they'll be instantly vaporized. The sun is be-all-end-all garbage dump, nothing we can do with our current technology can hurt it. Or better yet, we find a black hole and use that.
As for terrorists, this is actually a big deal to the japanese scientists working on this. Luckily nanotubes are strong enough to happily shred any plane and believe you me the cables will be defended.
The bottom line is humanity has to go to space and this is the best way to do it.
I should elaborate on my statement. The cable will be strong enough to literally tether the EARTH to a rock IN SPACE. That's the only reason this doesn't exist already: we don't have a cable strong enough.
Once this is built, the only vulnerable component will be the cable-cars, and to be honest, hitting a laser powered cable car with anything short of a full size nuclear explosion is pretty fucking unlikely. When this goes up it's here to stay.
And with the construction of the large hadron colider I'd say our construction abilities are no longer in question. This space cable will have fewer parts than the colider has, and is quite a bit less complicated.
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