We're getting close to the point where we have materials good enough to do something like this.
The Great Space Elevator - GizmodoOf course - the question is just because we CAN do something, SHOULD we do it?There are startups and then there are startups. Web 2.0 is all fine and dandy and I love AJAX as much as the next person but let’s face it, as amazing as Flickr, del.icio.us and MeasureMap are, they and the rest of the new web apps combined and taken to the tenth power aren’t even half as sexy as the Space Elevator. The what? Business 2.0’s Georgia Flight explains:
In this case - I think so. We need a dream, a frontier of some sort. The promise of open horizons, of room to expand. And short of colonizing Antartica, there's no room left. (Admittedly, Antarctica is a sunny beach compared to the rest of the Solar System. But then again, there's the Hyperdrive supposedly in development...
All things considered - I'd rather see NASA throw money at space elevator ideas than redoing Apollo - and it'd be a real kick if this drive works, but it has to be outside 5 planetary diameters to function.
(Two points to whoever identifies the stories where the '5 planetary diameter' requirement was a continual plot point.) (Cripes. I just googled it. Too easy by far.)
J.
Comments (2)
I'm sure including a link will cause this to get caught up in your spam trap, but I thought this vaguely related item might amuse you, if you didn't already know about it:
http://www.usa4id.com/ciwc/SawedOff.htm
It's about why the Soviets decided to keep a sawed-off shotgun on every spacecraft.
Posted by Jason | March 7, 2006 1:17 PM
Posted on March 7, 2006 13:17
Looks like just putting in the URL doesn't trigger the spam trap - it's the html extras that go along with it that does. Hmmm.
That's interesting, though. I've known about the various survival rifles packed in various US aircrew survival kits - but didn't know about the Soviet version! Thank you!
J.
Posted by JLawson | March 7, 2006 2:58 PM
Posted on March 7, 2006 14:58