Elevator to space

[Jack]

What you make of this?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article4799369.ece

From cyborg housemaids and waterpowered cars to dog translators and rocket boots, Japanese boffins have racked up plenty of near-misses in the quest to turn science fiction into reality.

Now the finest scientific minds of Japan are devoting themselves to cracking the greatest sci-fi vision of all: the space elevator. Man has so far conquered space by painfully and inefficiently blasting himself out of the atmosphere but the 21st century should bring a more leisurely ride to the final frontier.

For chemists, physicists, material scientists, astronauts and dreamers across the globe, the space elevator represents the most tantalising of concepts: cables stronger and lighter than any fibre yet woven, tethered to the ground and disappearing beyond the atmosphere to a satellite docking station in geosynchronous orbit above Earth.

Up and down the 22,000 mile-long (36,000km) cables — or flat ribbons — will run the elevator carriages, themselves requiring huge breakthroughs in engineering to which the biggest Japanese companies and universities have turned their collective attention.

[Taro Toporific]

What you make of this?...

As Rob emailed me earlier today, "After all those rockets have self-destructed, this seems like a 'logical' alternative."
But somehow, I cannot wish on anyone the 14 hours of J-pop elevator music (which is the estimated time the space elevator will take to escape the earth).

[Charles]

Didn't they already build one?

[Taro Toporific]

Arthur Clarke's?

Didn't they already build one?

[amdg]

What, someone's got an urgent meeting in space?

[Midwinter]

Now the finest scientific minds of Japan

Well that made my day.



Did anyone read Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy? When one of these bad boys snaps and falls back to terra firma, you don't want to be anywhere nearby.

[james]

Well that made my day.

Did anyone read Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy? When one of these bad boys snaps and falls back to terra firma, you don't want to be anywhere nearby.

yup! quite some time ago.. about 10 years i guess, but i remember thoroughly enjoying it.

[Buraku]

Very much a dream of mine also after reading some scifi books, the space elevator is one of the few things that can make access to space cheap and affordable. It currently costs something like $12,000 per kilogram lifted into space so you can see why space tourism on rockets is so expensive and getting Shuttle to truck water supplies to the space station can cost billions

The space elevator might one day change this

However facts are the elevator really is just a cartoonish scifi dream we would need big advances in material tech and other scifi stuff like nano technology to allow the elevator to handle the enormous stresses of space
It's the type of project which would make the Empire State building like a dot

rockets are what we got now, they are not some scifi dream they are real and their efficiency can be improved and rockets will be here to stay for a long time.

[amdg]

Very much a dream of mine also after reading some scifi books, the space elevator is one of the few things that can make access to space cheap and affordable. It currently costs something like $12,000 per kilogram lifted into space so you can see why space tourism on rockets is so expensive and getting Shuttle to truck water supplies to the space station can cost billions

The space elevator might one day change this

However facts are the elevator really is just a cartoonish scifi dream we would need big advances in material tech and other scifi stuff like nano technology to allow the elevator to handle the enormous stresses of space
It's the type of project which would make the Empire State building like a dot

rockets are what we got now, they are not some scifi dream they are real and their efficiency can be improved and rockets will be here to stay for a long time.

$12,000 per kilogram? It would be much cheaper just to beam everything up, Star Trek style. Once we invent the technology to do so. So who's working on that?

[pheyton]

yup! quite some time ago.. about 10 years i guess, but i remember thoroughly enjoying it.

Loved the Mars series.

Yes, the space elevator will be the future of getting payloads into space. Without reading the article, there were a few companies here in California a few years back which had actually built small prototypes that worked. It was definitely exciting to see it in action.

One way to deal with a failure would be to simply put the elevator near a coastline. If there was a failure the odds are it would come down in the ocean and greatly lessen the threat to populations. Unless of course your a mariner.

[Jack]

I cannot wish on anyone the 14 hours of J-pop elevator music (which is the estimated time the space elevator will take to escape the earth).

That means this thing has to travel at a speed of 2,600 km/h for 14 hours. Hmmm...

How do you build something 36,000 km long/tall? Why do people waste time on useless projects like this? They should work to cure cancer instead.

[String]

They should work to cure cancer instead.

It cures cancer, too.

I loved the Mars trilogy. Was quite a scene when the cable fell, though. It would be nice if we could get all our politicians situated in homes in the descent path of the cable.

[james]

That means this thing has to travel at a speed of 2,600 km/h for 14 hours. Hmmm...

How do you build something 36,000 km long/tall? Why do people waste time on useless projects like this? They should work to cure cancer instead.

i think the problem is with the article itself as it would seem they're out by a couple of orders of magnitude on the distance. if i recall, minimal orbital altitudes typically start at 350km not 35,000km.

so subbing the new numbers, you get a much more reasonable speed of 25km/h which is comparable to what the elevator on the cn tower does.

[FG Lurker]

i think the problem is with the article itself as it would seem they're out by a couple of orders of magnitude on the distance. if i recall, minimal orbital altitudes typically start at 350km not 35,000km.

The elevator wouldn't have to travel the entire 35,000km but the cable would need to be 35,000km (probably 36,000km) long to reach geostationary orbit.

[james]

Why do people waste time on useless projects like this? They should work to cure cancer instead.

people are working to cure cancer. not to say it doesn't suck but personally, i don't think humanity should put all of its aspirations on hold until we cure this, that and the other thing. and for all we know, research into building a space elevator may yield unfortold benefits and knowledge applicable to other fields of study. it would certainly be more productive and probably less expensive than trying to subdue the middle-east.

i'd place my money on successfully building an operation space elevator before curing cancer anyway.

[james]

The elevator wouldn't have to travel the entire 35,000km but the cable would need to be 35,000km (probably 36,000km) long to reach geostationary orbit.

damn good point. had forgotten about the geostationary bit. but yeah, no real need for the elevator to go all the way to the "top" so 350km or so for the elevator with the cable extending beyond that would be sufficient.

[Greji]

I don't understand this project! Afterall, TIJ! Why aren't they building an escalator? Long escalators are all the rage right now!

[james]

I don't understand this project! Afterall, TIJ! Why aren't they building an escalator? Long escalators are all the rage right now!

you know.. given the less than impeccable safety record of japanese elevator companies i'm starting to wonder if this is really such a good idea afterall.

[Greji]

you know.. given the less than impeccable safety record of japanese elevator companies i'm starting to wonder if this is really such a good idea afterall.

There are J-people who will be quick to point out that the record of J-lift companies is quite good. It's those foreign elevators that have the bad track record and are dangerous (of course not mentioning that all of the employees of these gaijin dens of peril, below certain executives, are Japanese)!

[james]

There are J-people who will be quick to point out that the record of J-lift companies is quite good. It's those foreign elevators that have the bad track record and are dangerous (of course not mentioning that all of the employees of these gaijin dens of peril, below certain executives, are Japanese)!

i'd say the more important issues to address though is if this thing is built though are:

1. will we get elevator ladies back?
2. we'll need a new club, because "mile high" just ain't gonna cut it anymore.

[Charles]

i'd say the more important issues to address though is if this thing is built though are:

1. will we get elevator ladies back?

Sort of.

[YT]Q3Sq-s7V_qg[/YT]

[Mulboyne]

1st Japan Space Elevator Technical & Engineering Competition (JSETEC)

"Climb me to the moon"

150m Battery SE Climber Race brought to you by JSEA

Date: August 8 (sat) - 9 (Sun) , 2009
(It postpone until next weekend in case of bad weather or the strong wind.)

Location: Nihon University Futawa Field
Futawa 1-2, Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, Japan (facing of Futawa high school)

Access

From Tokyo: JR-Sobu line -> Tobu-Noda line ->Shin-Keisei line /1 hour and walk 20 min
- From Tokyo: ShinKeisei Bus Terminal #3 /North exit of JR-Sobu line Funabashi Sta. -> Futawa Michi bus-stop / 15 min and walk 10 min
- There are some parking lots

Cooperation: College of Science and Technology, Nihon University

More information will be soon.

If you want to know more details, comtact to info@jsea.jp.

Something like this:

[ythq]VkdfuQdoW_Q[/ythq]