NOVA scienceNOW | NOVA Short | An Elevator to Space?

[r2dxhate]

in reality, we only need enough ribbon to provide a runway for a craft to build up speed with electric motors. even if the first elevator only got us 3/4 the way to space, we could accelerate a craft to have enough momentum to escape earths gravity without the use of expensive rockets.

[accellente]

we are talking miles and miles up the in sky man~!!!! Have you heard of satellite//????? maybe they should try and tie a ribbon on a satellite then they should throw the ribbon down banck to earth and we catch it and ...............IT WON'T WORK..............

[accellente]

this doesn't work.......i really htink it doesn't work

[accellente]

how do you keep the wire up? The thing needs to climp up 'something'......how does the wire stay up?

[PepeLePew125]

i know i'm gonna sound like a quack. but if you wanna transverse space, you need to look into 'electro-magnetic field'.

not only does it protect you from space junks, but also provides power for ur vessels or maybe navigation?

i dunno, Mother Earth and other animals been using it since their existence.

[PepeLePew125]

Earth is not spinning fast enough to keep up with the other end of the elevator..satelites in space orbits faster than the Earth's rotation.

good idea though.

[boundtogetdown]

it is possible its called geosynchronous orbit. it is 42,164 kilometers above the earths equator.

your angular velocity is the same as the earths angular velocity

the project would take centuries

[digemail]

It would actually have to stretch to geostationary orbit which is 35,786 km (22,236 mi) but you are very close. I bet there will be a working device carrying cargo to space by 2030. nano dot ms

[mccote]

What anchors the 'ladder' in space?

It seems to me there are much bigger problems with this idea than merely how to climb the ladder.

[alexicoff]

centripetal/centrifugal force. its the same force that keeps the string taut when you have a rock on a string and you spin it in a circle.

[markbaland]

Their is a huge difference in the mass ratio between a person and a rock that can be spun on a string by a person, and a planet and the size of whatever might be used as an anchor for this. I am not a physicist, but it doesn't seem logical to me that a non-rigid structure such as a cable would stand up straight for miles when a large portion of it is inside the Earth's atmosphere and all of it are within the reach of Earth's gravitational pull.

[FutureScientistOfUSA]

yeah the force from spinning keeps it up there and the cable straight and stiff.

[markbaland]

It's ironic that the least scientific comment comes from someone with Scientist in their screen name...

[FutureScientistOfUSA]

how ironic!

[FutureScientistOfUSA]

also to reply to your long comment, the centripital/centrifugal force of an object that large would EASILY overcome the force of gravity on the ribbon. remember the ribbin would only be in the atmosphere. which means that that is the only part that gravity would effect. the space base would be in space clear out of the way of the earths pull. The reason why spinning a rock on a string is a bad example is because gravity effects the rock and the string instead of just he string.

[markbaland]

I didn't mean "least scientific" as an insult, by any means... I meant you put it succinctly. As of my analogy, I admit that I forgot to take into account that a person standing on the surface of the Earth spinning a rock on a string would be affected by gravity differently than the Earth and the anchor on the tether in the relative lack of gravity in outer space. Thanks.

[FutureScientistOfUSA]

i know, you meant like shortest and least in depth.

[dano9181]

one week is a lot less than the time it takes to build a rocket and fly materials with a full crew to the ISS. I hope they can make it less than 1 day and then we'll really be in business

[Darkfoster22]

WTF are thinking

[DADShadowFox]

It simply wouldn't work because a geostationary "counterweight" would not exert a downward force. Besides, the geostationary transfer orbit payload capacity is only 8000 pounds. It would still be easier to bring whatever it is you need to space to begin with.

[DADShadowFox]

well i guess it would exert a downward force if it were held at ISS altitudes (200mi), but what would hold it up? The pulley itself would then have to be brought even higher to counteract the force of gravity on the payloads, which are limited then to the low earth orbit capacity of 53,000 lbs...sooo i dunno. My guess is even if they tried, something would go terribly wrong, and someone would end up with 30 thousand miles of wire and a large metal pulley fall on their house.

[markbaland]

I first heard about space elevators several years ago, and I had envisioned a sturdy tower that was extremely huge at the base and got more narrow towards the top as a scaffolding for a platform propelled by rockets or electricity or some other means. I thought it sounded dangerous. I mean, if there were an earthquake or tornado or terrorist act of sabotage at or near the base, think of the destruction! Miles of cable with an anchor sounds only slightly less dangerous...

[MrAnderson1985]

amazing.. we are watching a video about a space elevator but you guys are just dickbitching at eachother.

[Fruck9ball]

lol marussicc u have your own personal problems and your draging others in it.. you dont like slovenia well your problem just keep it to your self. your comment is pointles and childish. budala

[Pegazus13]

What the hell was that? You little nazi prick, go fuck yourself.

[kokice1]

z dvigalom mislim :)

[kokice1]

upam da bo kmalu možna pot v vesolje ;)