Space Elevator Competition: USST's First Place Climb

[669Tim]

Um so this thing is gonna take how long to get to space...and I'm thinking u add enough weight to secure the cosmonaut from the vacuum and such it's not gettin off the ground lol even a scaled up version is a joke at best

[krap101]

I wonder if it might have been better to use heat rather than photovoltaics to do this, as solar panels aren't too efficient yet.

[ProjectCosmos]

Exciting times we live in indeed! :)

[cqr80]

Another issue to contend with will be the ionosphere where power transmission to the climber may be difficult. Perhaps Mr. Tesla could be of some help in this department. . . .

[cqr80]

The real stinker to deal with is going to be the jet stream, since it's blowing significantly harder than the breezes dealt with in this competition

[pomelove2]

Is the leather ray applied and is this lifted up?

[WAMEDJO]

Is this thing supposed to bring us to Space ? It's very CANADIAN indeed, almost FRENCH I'd say.

[commandery71]

@WAMEDJO

I've been to Saskatchewan, its not very french at all.

[IQ20000Berta]

great work, perhaps becomes reality in 50 years

[JonDeth]

The short coming in all the designs I've seen is they're not utilizing multiple propulsion techniques. For the initial climb, the platforms should be running basic air drive and switch to the motors once air propulsion is no longer effective.

But really, why not just use a hollow sealed cable, unseal it in space and use the vacuum of space to suck up whatever the cargo may be.....

[annihilus2]

@JonDeth there is no such thing as a vacuum sucking up a payload, there is only pressure pushing upward against gravity, pressure being kinetic energy of gas particles bouncing off an item and sending it in the opposite direction with the same amount of force... now is it seriously easier to pressurize a 22 thousand mile pipe, then just hang off the pipe?

[JonDeth]

@annihilus2 You have probably the worst understanding and biggest misunderstanding of physics I have ever encountered in my entire life! lol

[annihilus2]

@JonDeth oh stop it you are embarrassing yourself, filling a 10,000+ mile long 6 foot diameter tube with enough pressure to eject a 1000 lb payload. What is this magical 'sucking' force you speak of? Maybe you could pressurize the tube with Carbon Dioxide thus giving all of THAT the escape velocity it needs to leave the planet during the 'big suck', and we could cut down on global warming. All of this is more practical than that 1/4 horsepower electric motor they were gonna use.

[JonDeth]

@annihilus2 as an engineer and inventor, I just don't find their concepts very good. A tether system is a great way to go but certainly there are better means. A tube based system would take some time for the vacuum to reach full efficiency but it would work or at least lessen and aid to the amount of thrust required by mechanical means. Even a 50/50 system would work better where wind thrust was used to a point then switched over to crawler motors.

[hobbiz]

@JonDeth

exactly what i was going to say to you after reading your comments here... Really, what have you been smoking? your comments have to relations to real life at all. I know 6 year old kids who have a better understanding for physics than you.

[commandery71]

@JonDeth

think abou it man, the pressure on either side of that tube, whether it was in space or not would be equal. It's not going to have any vacume effect on earth. Same reason our atmosphere isn't being vacumed into space right now. Gravity is holding our atmosphere down.

anything like that would require some kind of pump, it would have to be pnuematic.

[JonDeth]

@commandery71 lmao

Gravity isn't holding the gas pressure of the atmosphere in, the troposphere, mesosphere, exosphere etc.etc.etc. are what is retaining the gas atmosphere of the earth.

Look at the concept I've proposed as a balloon with a hole poked in it, smaller than a needle hole. A hole that can be sealed/unsealed in a balloon that can replace the lost air who's loss is negligible anyway.

My concept is incredibly sound and if designed properly, will work.

[frontpageandthefame]

Why would people try to criticize something that they do not even slightly understand? This is the beginning of something that will completely revolutionize space travel and exploration. Going to space without burning fuel! It's genius! The competitors have fabricated the most efficient and powerful prototypes that exist. If anyone posting criticisms can make something perform better, why haven't they entered and won? It seems like a good thing to spend money on. Just my opinion.

[s0n0fsparda]

ok so... it's a competition to win a NASA prize of around one million.... and guys are moving the light spots.... is it a joke? C'mon you can see the light moving in and out the panel surface!

[NinjaArt99]

to be honest this video is nothing special, im sure everyone knows this is pretty easy with solar power, its just the point of making a bigger and faster one

[hobbiz]

@NinjaArt99

if it's so easy, why don't you do it? the prize money would be nice i guess.

[NinjaArt99]

@hobbiz i meant its easy to understand, plus im just one person and would never have the amount of money or skill to build something of that size, i never meant to make that other comment sound bad.

[graysight]

because they need to spend the money on something??

[N6688846993]

If they need something long enough to reach space, I would consider letting them borrow my dick.

[DylanTheHammer]

They mean outer space, not the space in your hand...

[80amnesia]

i totally agree

[H3L1Xz0n3]

@N6688846993 hahahaha

[AdventureStudying]

1, the moon doesn't have an atmosphere, 2, there are no hazards to think of that will be in the way because on Earth we have to think about the consequences of this structure failing, 3, the moons gravitational pull is 1/6th that on earth, and 4 there is much more energy from the sun on the side of the moon that the sun is shining on at a given time.

[frankenshizzle]

The reason for building an elevator would be to reduce the cost and the amount of resources of trying to get objects off earth.... So what would the point of having one on the moon be exactly?...

[originalsupergrover]

beacuse we all know that there are aliens there

[GemDrake]

For when we have a moon colony.

Also I'm not just making this up.

[frankenshizzle]

making what up? anyways im saying that with a sixth of the earths gravity, and zero air resistance, the moon is relatively easy to get off of (think Neil Armstrong) I think that the energy spend creating and maintain a space elevator on the moon would be more than just using regular propulsion. Also the moon doesn't spin very fast which is the key to having a space elevator work

[AdventureStudying]

Right on! I wonder how fast it would climb if the elevator was put on the moon instead. The moon has resources too you know. :P

[TommyJMaylee3141]

Saskatchewan's team should be proud. Hope someday they can win the big cash prize

[mrmaciejm]

Great job

[Matcow]

What people dont understand about this video is that it is a concept for powering a space elevator. By using light energy that can follow the elevator up, it takes away the heave burden of fuel on the line of the elevator. Basically all the energy gets stored on the ground, and is then converted when it hits the elevator. Also University of Saskatchewan is a CANADIAN university.

[RealDeohge]

Yeah if you build a road to space whats going to stop all the shit that flys into it???

Nice idea but hmm space must not be so full of junk?? I dont see how it would work unless they know how to stop shit from crashing into it.

[neilan15]

You seem to have put this post on many space elevator videos, why not do some googling and find out as opposed to making the same tired argument?

[hobbiz]

@RealDeohge

Thats why the most likely scenario is that it would be fastened in a big platform at sea, so it can move slightly in any direction.

Detection of objects is already in use, so no problems there either.

The 2 biggest problems of the idea about a space elevator was ther material of the line (graphene was recently invented, problebly can use that) and propoulsion, which is the point of these contests

[Vleesball]

poeple cant build a space elevator. we dont have the material for it !!

[Swampertdude56]

We are close though. We have been designing nano-carbon tubes that might work, if we just tinker with them a little bit more.

[SniperViper1000]

@Vleesball Uhhh... Yes we do.

[chrdann]

The future

[Sonyoooo3]

I still like fishing system with a nanotech cable that hook the transport and pull up the transport just like the military plane refuelling a plane at the mid air?

[Sonyoooo3]

maybe space train can also be next best thing for faster traveling?

[Gaobdgao]

do u know that with the recent technology we have we can travel from USA to ASIA within 2 hrs?

[xboomcazoox]

we are the fucking backward people?

haha you make me laugh who strikes the most fear into their enemies hearts? Who is the first ones to use new technologies in a war? I am telling you if you think you arent scared of being shit holed by hundreds of 1 ton bombs from our planes then your already dead.

the reason why the US isnt building any shit like this is because the fucking environmentalists will be giving us shit because we took the homes of 4 billions wasps..

[xboomcazoox]

fucking other countries will be giving us shit because of how much they "hate" us..

I dont fucking believe your ass saying you hate us because you fear us more than anyone in the world because we could decide to chuck a bomb at you guys any time of your shit life.

[ZaphedBeebleBrox]

American pride? Hey man, you are shitting yourself ... You are the nastiest most backward people ever existed. the world will be better off with a bankrupt fuken america. Go fuk yourself and your Boosh.

[xgalba00]

What if European Union builds the Space Elevator, when USA is now bankrupt? What it will do with American pride? Europe built Large Hadron Collider, is building ITER fusion reactor and will also build Space Elevator

[Niko1020]

Hey man, definitely props to you if you can fly a hot air balloon or climb a rope or a kite to space like that thing. That's a pretty good achievement for ya.

[GoOnSqUadGoOnies]

Yea moron but this thing in this video isnt going to out of space! MORON!

[pouyo3]

It's a proof of concept test. A space elevator would be a revolutionary invention if it was ever built.

[hobbiz]

@GoOnSqUadGoOnies

did you really think the first test with a prototype would be to send it to space? it's called research! if you can do it better, why don't you? so many stupid kids who have seen too much tv to understand how real life is working anymore...

[maoristereo]

this carbon nanotubes thingy is promising but how exactly are they planning to stretch out the string with a sufficient weight to keep it stretched

[tennispirate]

I think the theory is that the orbit of the satellite at the top will counteract the gravity of the ribbon. That is why they're trying to use carbon nanotubes: lightweight and extremely strong.

[ps3master33]

pretty simple actually. its like if you had a ball connected to a string and spun it in circles. the string is going to stay "stretched". now just on a bigger scale.

[khi021]

Nice!!..now we need to have a faster and reliable way to create nanotubes and improve in PV technology. I give it 10 to 20 years. shorter time if the principles of moore's law can be applied to our technological advancement

[1888junkteam]

is there a string strong enough to support its own weight if dropped say for example from the space station to earth

[BergerKing064]

carbon nanotubes are strong enough and knwo it would not be suspended from something, centrifugal force would keep it suspended

[hobbiz]

@1888junkteam

yes, and it would have to me much stronger than that too... it have to be stretched between the station and earth

[03529391]

is at trueeeee ?????how much we will pay ?and where is this?

[pajiad191]

These particular designs, in terms of energy delivery seem to be impractical for use in space. A terrestrial light source could not provide nearly enough power for device traveling to space, especially when filtered through the atmosphere.

[zwackazwacka]

I suggest people build a circular tower with extreme heights and beam light off of it. It would deflect wind because of it's shape and it would beam light past the atmosphere.

[hobbiz]

@pajiad191

that's why they are going to use a powerful laser with automatic aiming-system

have you crunched any numbers, or was that a wild guess?

[Ruth42]

Wind is certainly a problem but one that can probably be overcome. Perhaps using adjustable mirrors can help though I would think it would be too big a problem with gusty winds!

[salemcripple]

Is this realy useing the carbon nanotubes? Or is it just an ordinary cable?

[Vairminator]

Ordinary ribbon. Another video on here talks about how they still havn't quite gotten nanotubes to turn into the cables needed. Not yet...

[salemcripple]

Also, I read in Discover mag. that they planned on putting this out on a floating platform, along the equater. I wander what they plan to do durring incliment weather? A Pacific cyclone can be every bit as bad as a Atlantic hurricane.

[Vairminator]

Interesting question. So much so, I had to look it up! Google "Hurricanes at equator" and you'll read about the only known typhoon to ever form near the equator! I guess they only happen every couple hundred years, but it would still have to be considered. I guess they'd weather it like oil dereks.

[salemcripple]

I don't think they'd be able to move it with a 22,000 mile "rope" atached to it. I live near the Pacific (Oregon) and know just how bad a storm can get here (i'm some what of a storm chaser as well). I weigh 300 pounds, and have had a gust of wind litterly pick me up, and cary me carry me, lol.

[kuhsawndraw]

I actaully saw a demonstration of this at the U of S,it is really amazing what they have accomplished!

[OBWanLasTrueDon]

i would DIE to get on it.. even for a brief moment..just too see the comsmo... ahh... well.. clock is tickin ,like my life span, i just wish all of the organizations would work together... rather than try 2 beat 1 another too the punch ... then again... dollar's are always involved somehow

[Cssfiend]

although that would be nice, competition itself is a real driving force for the kind of thing, with the tension between the US and China increasing perhaps we will see some real development before they nuke each other

[OBWanLasTrueDon]

centrifical force is the driving factor in it. im sure it can break the record our normal space blast off speeds at. not too mention cost of each ascention. i hope and pray this becomes a reality in my lifetime.

[herbys68]

Actually, while centrifugal force is a basic principle in the space elevator, it is not what moves loads up. Centrifugal force affects loads in a space elevator at ground level the same it affects you, just a tiny force reducing your weight.

[OBWanLasTrueDon]

the ascent is actually moderated by the ground wheels,it can be "let loose" for max speed. although a human couldnt take that G force.. or met somewhere in the middle for speed & safetly requirments. .

[FranceHopper]

Hmmm might want to make it faster if it's going to space...

[Preisellack]

ya really

[phalloidium]

no wai!!!

[herbys68]

"space" is only sixty miles away. So it doesn't need to be very fast to get there. Now, geostationary orbit is 25 thousand miles above, and that's the problem...

[Preisellack]

the thing was going frickin 3 mph!!! I'm sure thats not how fast the real space elevators going to go...but still!

[johnguydude]

yeah but once you reach space theres no drag and the effect of gravity decreases as you go

[iLikeLearning]

"...Geostationary orbit is 25,000 miles above..."

I think the idea is to have a counterbalance out in space so the elevator belt stays tight (hence no need to worry about how far the the Clarke Belt is).

[Pilanus]

Interesting, so thats how the space elevator will work...