Wombat News
08-12-2003, 16:28
Slagkattunger, Wombat News
With advances taking place in the development of ultra-strong fibres, the concept of building an elevator 60,000 miles high to carry cargo into space is moving from the realm of science fiction to the fringes of reality. However, some traditional obstacles remain.
A conference sponsored this month by the Free Land of Slagkattunger discussed the feasibility of using carbon nanotubes to build a cable strong enough to enable such an elevator to work. (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=82547) Carbon nanotubes are cylindrical molecules of carbon with many times the strength of steel. In theory, a slender carbon nanotube cable could be dropped from a satellite in orbit 50,000 miles above the earth, enabling the Slagkat Space Agency to send small vehicles up and down the cable at a fraction of the cost of a conventional rocket launch.
"However," said keynote speaker Karther S. Klaart in his address, "although such an elevator is becoming feasible, we cannot escape the traditional quandary of what to do about the thirteenth floor."
Most high-rise buildings discreetly omit the thirteenth floor from their listings out of superstition, labelling the floor above the twelfth floor the fourteenth. This is because most tenants do not want to occupy floor thirteen. With a space elevator, however, the problem is more complicated.
"With no concrete floors, we are stuck tracking the ascent and descent of the car in kilometres," said Dr. Kitty Kibbles of the Slagkat Space Agency. "How are we going to skip the thirteenth kilometre of our ascent?"
Moreover, with a projected length of the cable at 50,000 miles, the number 13 would appear over five hundred times on an altimeter tracking progress in miles. Using the shorter kilometres of the metric system, the problem is even worse.
"We could program the elevator's altimeters to omit all numbers ending in 13," said Kibbles, "but that would make accurate orbital calculations a bit tricky."
Klaart suggested that the best solution may lie with a colour-coding scheme: "Red orbit, blue orbit, orange orbit ... it would get rid of the whole bothersome numbers and counting process," Klaart said. "I bet the scientists would like that."
THIS BROADCAST IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY WOMBAT NEWS – SURFING THE AETHER TO BRING YOU THE LATEST SCIENTIFIC HOODOO
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid87/pda22c0ab2140ceb42cbbf0f2271afd5b/fa9f249c.jpg
With advances taking place in the development of ultra-strong fibres, the concept of building an elevator 60,000 miles high to carry cargo into space is moving from the realm of science fiction to the fringes of reality. However, some traditional obstacles remain.
A conference sponsored this month by the Free Land of Slagkattunger discussed the feasibility of using carbon nanotubes to build a cable strong enough to enable such an elevator to work. (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=82547) Carbon nanotubes are cylindrical molecules of carbon with many times the strength of steel. In theory, a slender carbon nanotube cable could be dropped from a satellite in orbit 50,000 miles above the earth, enabling the Slagkat Space Agency to send small vehicles up and down the cable at a fraction of the cost of a conventional rocket launch.
"However," said keynote speaker Karther S. Klaart in his address, "although such an elevator is becoming feasible, we cannot escape the traditional quandary of what to do about the thirteenth floor."
Most high-rise buildings discreetly omit the thirteenth floor from their listings out of superstition, labelling the floor above the twelfth floor the fourteenth. This is because most tenants do not want to occupy floor thirteen. With a space elevator, however, the problem is more complicated.
"With no concrete floors, we are stuck tracking the ascent and descent of the car in kilometres," said Dr. Kitty Kibbles of the Slagkat Space Agency. "How are we going to skip the thirteenth kilometre of our ascent?"
Moreover, with a projected length of the cable at 50,000 miles, the number 13 would appear over five hundred times on an altimeter tracking progress in miles. Using the shorter kilometres of the metric system, the problem is even worse.
"We could program the elevator's altimeters to omit all numbers ending in 13," said Kibbles, "but that would make accurate orbital calculations a bit tricky."
Klaart suggested that the best solution may lie with a colour-coding scheme: "Red orbit, blue orbit, orange orbit ... it would get rid of the whole bothersome numbers and counting process," Klaart said. "I bet the scientists would like that."
THIS BROADCAST IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY WOMBAT NEWS – SURFING THE AETHER TO BRING YOU THE LATEST SCIENTIFIC HOODOO
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid87/pda22c0ab2140ceb42cbbf0f2271afd5b/fa9f249c.jpg