Space Elevator: Momentum Building
Leading experts are meeting this week to take a longing look at the idea of a space elevator. The idea is a stretch, no doubt, with plenty of work to do before travelers have push-button, top floor access to space.
For one, what’s needed, advocates explain, is a super-tough ribbon that does an about face in thinking. It hangs from the ground and falls into the sky -- thanks to the Earth’s spin and centripetal force.
Anchored in space a ribbon 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) long would be made of carbon nanotubes. A "climber" would haul cargo, as well as passenger modules up and down the length of ribbon. Those are the basics. Of course, money is a key lubricant in this high-wire balancing act of technology.
At the third annual international conference on the space elevator being held in Washington, D.C., scientists and engineers are tackling hurdles that must be overcome for the concept to, quite literally, get off the ground.
Leading experts are meeting this week to take a longing look at the idea of a space elevator. The idea is a stretch, no doubt, with plenty of work to do before travelers have push-button, top floor access to space.
For one, what’s needed, advocates explain, is a super-tough ribbon that does an about face in thinking. It hangs from the ground and falls into the sky -- thanks to the Earth’s spin and centripetal force.
Anchored in space a ribbon 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) long would be made of carbon nanotubes. A "climber" would haul cargo, as well as passenger modules up and down the length of ribbon. Those are the basics. Of course, money is a key lubricant in this high-wire balancing act of technology.
At the third annual international conference on the space elevator being held in Washington, D.C., scientists and engineers are tackling hurdles that must be overcome for the concept to, quite literally, get off the ground.
Comments