Postcards from the Bleeding Edge
Saturday, August 20, 2005

  Space elevators by 2018

Usually I can barely restrain my skepticism regarding the space elevator concept. So when I encountered the Liftport group last month on the web, with a nanotech division in Millville, NJ (about 20 miles from where I grew up), my internal dialog went a bit like this: HOWEVER: I had been sitting on this blog post for a month, and I ressurected it just now, because the University of Texas just successfully created a nanotube sheet that was a meter long, capable of supporting over 50,000 times it's own weight - and thus I'm at least a 1000 times less dubious about nanotubes than I was when I wrote the above fictional dialog.

Further, U of T claims that they can make the material at 7 meters/minute....

Not only that, but the basic applications for nanotubes outside of the fanciful space tether - Solar cells/Diodes, improved hydrogen storage, and a Y-shaped nanotube-transistor have all been demonstrated recently.

Engineers will overestimate what they can do in a year, and underestimate what they can do in ten years. I guess, now, I have to schedule a trip to the Space Elevator competition in Mountain View in September.

I still regard the idea of creating tethers of geosyncronous length as preposterous - but (as one example) momentum-exchange tethers in low earth orbit seem ever more plausible.

Also: better suspension bridges, taller buildings, better body armor, cell phones and watches as thin as your hand or embedded in clothing - all seem more doable by the day....

It ought to be an interesting decade in materials science. I still think the space elevator folk should try building a few suspension bridges first.

It's been a weird day in space science, too. The Russians are seriously proposing He3 mining on the moon, and plan to launch their shuttle equivalent "Kliper" by 2011, and a will launch a tourist around the moon whenever one can come up with a spare $100m of scratch.

Or maybe they are just hard up for foreign exchange? I shudder to think at what the difference in exchange rate is between here and there. The Russians are launching 4 manned rockets to the ISS/year at a cost of 65m each, and we can't do more than one a year for 1.6b each?

Jeeze, I don't know what to think, after the shuttle has been ordered to stand down til March - maybe it's no longer economic for the US to operate its own rockets, and we should just buy them from Russia and China, refocus on space habitat and space vehicle development?

Bonus link: The WSJ's Requiem for the future.
 
David Täht writes about politics, space, copyright, the internet, audio software, operating systems and surfing.


Resume,Songs,
My new blog, NeX-6, My facebook page
Orgs I like
The EFF - keeping free speech in the world
Musical stuff I like
Jeff, Rick, Ardour, Jack
Prior Rants - Sharing your home network better in a time of covi... Designing for the disconnect Email lists going down the memory hole Instituting saner, professional source code manage... Wireless and Wifi in 2015 - not what I dreamed of Saving wifi! Fixing Bufferbloat! Fighting the vend... Virgin Media - Fixing the epidemic of bufferbloat ... 49... and trying to find my navel Wheels down on mars! Tracking the landing of Curiosity, from Seattle
Best of the blog:
Uncle Bill's Helicopter - A speech I gave to ITT Tech - Chicken soup for engineers
Beating the Brand - A pathological exploration of how branding makes it hard to think straight
Inside the Internet Mind - trying to map the weather within the global supercomputer that consists of humans and google
Sex In Politics - If politicians spent more time pounding the flesh rather than pressing it, it would be a better world
Getting resources from space - An alternative to blowing money on mars using NEAs.
On the Columbia - Why I care about space
Authors I like:
Doc Searls
Where's Cherie?
UrbanAgora
Jerry Pournelle
The Cubic Dog
Evan Hunt
The Bay Area is talking
Brizzled
Zimnoiac Emanations
Eric Raymond
Unlocking The Air
Bob Mage
BroadBand & Me
SpaceCraft
Selenian Boondocks
My Pencil
Transterrestial Musings
Bear Waller Hollar
Callahans
Pajamas Media BlogRoll Member

If you really want to, you can poke through the below links as well.

ARCHIVES
06/09/2002 - 06/16/2002 / 07/28/2002 - 08/04/2002 / 08/11/2002 - 08/18/2002 / 08/18/2002 - 08/25/2002 / 08/25/2002 - 09/01/2002 / 09/22/2002 - 09/29/2002 / 11/10/2002 - 11/17/2002 / 12/15/2002 - 12/22/2002 / 12/22/2002 - 12/29/2002 / 12/29/2002 - 01/05/2003 / 01/05/2003 - 01/12/2003 / 01/19/2003 - 01/26/2003 / 01/26/2003 - 02/02/2003 / 02/09/2003 - 02/16/2003 / 02/16/2003 - 02/23/2003 / 03/02/2003 - 03/09/2003 / 03/16/2003 - 03/23/2003 / 04/06/2003 - 04/13/2003 / 04/13/2003 - 04/20/2003 / 04/20/2003 - 04/27/2003 / 05/04/2003 - 05/11/2003 / 05/18/2003 - 05/25/2003 / 05/25/2003 - 06/01/2003 / 06/01/2003 - 06/08/2003 / 06/08/2003 - 06/15/2003 / 06/15/2003 - 06/22/2003 / 06/22/2003 - 06/29/2003 / 06/29/2003 - 07/06/2003 / 07/20/2003 - 07/27/2003 / 07/27/2003 - 08/03/2003 / 08/03/2003 - 08/10/2003 / 08/10/2003 - 08/17/2003 / 08/17/2003 - 08/24/2003 / 08/24/2003 - 08/31/2003 / 08/31/2003 - 09/07/2003 / 09/07/2003 - 09/14/2003 / 09/14/2003 - 09/21/2003 / 09/21/2003 - 09/28/2003 / 09/28/2003 - 10/05/2003 / 10/05/2003 - 10/12/2003 / 10/12/2003 - 10/19/2003 / 10/19/2003 - 10/26/2003 / 10/26/2003 - 11/02/2003 / 11/02/2003 - 11/09/2003 / 11/09/2003 - 11/16/2003 / 11/30/2003 - 12/07/2003 / 12/07/2003 - 12/14/2003 / 12/14/2003 - 12/21/2003 / 12/28/2003 - 01/04/2004 / 01/11/2004 - 01/18/2004 / 01/18/2004 - 01/25/2004 / 01/25/2004 - 02/01/2004 / 02/01/2004 - 02/08/2004 / 02/08/2004 - 02/15/2004 / 02/15/2004 - 02/22/2004 / 02/22/2004 - 02/29/2004 / 02/29/2004 - 03/07/2004 / 03/14/2004 - 03/21/2004 / 03/21/2004 - 03/28/2004 / 03/28/2004 - 04/04/2004 / 04/04/2004 - 04/11/2004 / 04/11/2004 - 04/18/2004 / 04/18/2004 - 04/25/2004 / 04/25/2004 - 05/02/2004 / 05/02/2004 - 05/09/2004 / 05/09/2004 - 05/16/2004 / 05/16/2004 - 05/23/2004 / 05/30/2004 - 06/06/2004 / 06/06/2004 - 06/13/2004 / 06/13/2004 - 06/20/2004 / 06/20/2004 - 06/27/2004 / 06/27/2004 - 07/04/2004 / 07/04/2004 - 07/11/2004 / 07/11/2004 - 07/18/2004 / 07/18/2004 - 07/25/2004 / 08/08/2004 - 08/15/2004 / 08/22/2004 - 08/29/2004 / 08/29/2004 - 09/05/2004 / 09/05/2004 - 09/12/2004 / 09/19/2004 - 09/26/2004 / 09/26/2004 - 10/03/2004 / 10/03/2004 - 10/10/2004 / 10/10/2004 - 10/17/2004 / 10/17/2004 - 10/24/2004 / 10/24/2004 - 10/31/2004 / 10/31/2004 - 11/07/2004 / 11/07/2004 - 11/14/2004 / 11/14/2004 - 11/21/2004 / 11/21/2004 - 11/28/2004 / 11/28/2004 - 12/05/2004 / 12/05/2004 - 12/12/2004 / 12/12/2004 - 12/19/2004 / 12/19/2004 - 12/26/2004 / 12/26/2004 - 01/02/2005 / 01/02/2005 - 01/09/2005 / 01/16/2005 - 01/23/2005 / 01/23/2005 - 01/30/2005 / 01/30/2005 - 02/06/2005 / 02/06/2005 - 02/13/2005 / 02/13/2005 - 02/20/2005 / 02/20/2005 - 02/27/2005 / 02/27/2005 - 03/06/2005 / 03/06/2005 - 03/13/2005 / 03/27/2005 - 04/03/2005 / 04/03/2005 - 04/10/2005 / 04/10/2005 - 04/17/2005 / 05/29/2005 - 06/05/2005 / 06/05/2005 - 06/12/2005 / 06/12/2005 - 06/19/2005 / 06/19/2005 - 06/26/2005 / 06/26/2005 - 07/03/2005 / 07/03/2005 - 07/10/2005 / 07/10/2005 - 07/17/2005 / 07/24/2005 - 07/31/2005 / 07/31/2005 - 08/07/2005 / 08/07/2005 - 08/14/2005 / 08/14/2005 - 08/21/2005 / 08/21/2005 - 08/28/2005 / 08/28/2005 - 09/04/2005 / 09/04/2005 - 09/11/2005 / 09/11/2005 - 09/18/2005 / 09/18/2005 - 09/25/2005 / 09/25/2005 - 10/02/2005 / 10/02/2005 - 10/09/2005 / 10/09/2005 - 10/16/2005 / 10/16/2005 - 10/23/2005 / 10/23/2005 - 10/30/2005 / 10/30/2005 - 11/06/2005 / 11/06/2005 - 11/13/2005 / 11/13/2005 - 11/20/2005 / 11/20/2005 - 11/27/2005 / 11/27/2005 - 12/04/2005 / 12/04/2005 - 12/11/2005 / 12/11/2005 - 12/18/2005 / 12/18/2005 - 12/25/2005 / 01/01/2006 - 01/08/2006 / 01/08/2006 - 01/15/2006 / 01/15/2006 - 01/22/2006 / 01/22/2006 - 01/29/2006 / 01/29/2006 - 02/05/2006 / 02/19/2006 - 02/26/2006 / 03/05/2006 - 03/12/2006 / 03/19/2006 - 03/26/2006 / 03/26/2006 - 04/02/2006 / 04/02/2006 - 04/09/2006 / 04/09/2006 - 04/16/2006 / 04/23/2006 - 04/30/2006 / 05/07/2006 - 05/14/2006 / 05/14/2006 - 05/21/2006 / 05/21/2006 - 05/28/2006 / 06/04/2006 - 06/11/2006 / 06/11/2006 - 06/18/2006 / 06/18/2006 - 06/25/2006 / 06/25/2006 - 07/02/2006 / 07/02/2006 - 07/09/2006 / 07/09/2006 - 07/16/2006 / 07/23/2006 - 07/30/2006 / 08/06/2006 - 08/13/2006 / 08/13/2006 - 08/20/2006 / 09/03/2006 - 09/10/2006 / 09/17/2006 - 09/24/2006 / 09/24/2006 - 10/01/2006 / 10/01/2006 - 10/08/2006 / 10/22/2006 - 10/29/2006 / 11/19/2006 - 11/26/2006 / 11/26/2006 - 12/03/2006 / 12/03/2006 - 12/10/2006 / 12/10/2006 - 12/17/2006 / 12/17/2006 - 12/24/2006 / 12/24/2006 - 12/31/2006 / 01/07/2007 - 01/14/2007 / 01/14/2007 - 01/21/2007 / 01/28/2007 - 02/04/2007 / 02/11/2007 - 02/18/2007 / 02/18/2007 - 02/25/2007 / 02/25/2007 - 03/04/2007 / 03/04/2007 - 03/11/2007 / 03/18/2007 - 03/25/2007 / 04/01/2007 - 04/08/2007 / 04/08/2007 - 04/15/2007 / 04/15/2007 - 04/22/2007 / 04/22/2007 - 04/29/2007 / 04/29/2007 - 05/06/2007 / 05/06/2007 - 05/13/2007 / 05/20/2007 - 05/27/2007 / 05/27/2007 - 06/03/2007 / 06/03/2007 - 06/10/2007 / 06/10/2007 - 06/17/2007 / 06/17/2007 - 06/24/2007 / 07/01/2007 - 07/08/2007 / 07/08/2007 - 07/15/2007 / 07/22/2007 - 07/29/2007 / 07/29/2007 - 08/05/2007 / 08/05/2007 - 08/12/2007 / 08/26/2007 - 09/02/2007 / 09/09/2007 - 09/16/2007 / 09/23/2007 - 09/30/2007 / 09/30/2007 - 10/07/2007 / 10/07/2007 - 10/14/2007 / 10/14/2007 - 10/21/2007 / 10/21/2007 - 10/28/2007 / 10/28/2007 - 11/04/2007 / 11/04/2007 - 11/11/2007 / 11/11/2007 - 11/18/2007 / 11/18/2007 - 11/25/2007 / 11/25/2007 - 12/02/2007 / 12/02/2007 - 12/09/2007 / 12/09/2007 - 12/16/2007 / 12/16/2007 - 12/23/2007 / 12/23/2007 - 12/30/2007 / 01/06/2008 - 01/13/2008 / 02/03/2008 - 02/10/2008 / 02/17/2008 - 02/24/2008 / 02/24/2008 - 03/02/2008 / 03/02/2008 - 03/09/2008 / 03/09/2008 - 03/16/2008 / 03/16/2008 - 03/23/2008 / 03/23/2008 - 03/30/2008 / 03/30/2008 - 04/06/2008 / 04/20/2008 - 04/27/2008 / 04/27/2008 - 05/04/2008 / 05/04/2008 - 05/11/2008 / 05/11/2008 - 05/18/2008 / 05/18/2008 - 05/25/2008 / 05/25/2008 - 06/01/2008 / 06/01/2008 - 06/08/2008 / 06/08/2008 - 06/15/2008 / 06/15/2008 - 06/22/2008 / 06/22/2008 - 06/29/2008 / 07/06/2008 - 07/13/2008 / 07/13/2008 - 07/20/2008 / 07/20/2008 - 07/27/2008 / 07/27/2008 - 08/03/2008 / 08/03/2008 - 08/10/2008 / 08/10/2008 - 08/17/2008 / 08/17/2008 - 08/24/2008 / 08/31/2008 - 09/07/2008 / 09/07/2008 - 09/14/2008 / 09/14/2008 - 09/21/2008 / 09/21/2008 - 09/28/2008 / 09/28/2008 - 10/05/2008 / 10/05/2008 - 10/12/2008 / 10/12/2008 - 10/19/2008 / 10/19/2008 - 10/26/2008 / 10/26/2008 - 11/02/2008 / 11/02/2008 - 11/09/2008 / 11/09/2008 - 11/16/2008 / 11/16/2008 - 11/23/2008 / 12/07/2008 - 12/14/2008 / 12/21/2008 - 12/28/2008 / 12/28/2008 - 01/04/2009 / 01/18/2009 - 01/25/2009 / 01/25/2009 - 02/01/2009 / 03/22/2009 - 03/29/2009 / 05/10/2009 - 05/17/2009 / 05/17/2009 - 05/24/2009 / 05/31/2009 - 06/07/2009 / 06/14/2009 - 06/21/2009 / 06/21/2009 - 06/28/2009 / 06/28/2009 - 07/05/2009 / 07/05/2009 - 07/12/2009 / 07/12/2009 - 07/19/2009 / 07/26/2009 - 08/02/2009 / 08/09/2009 - 08/16/2009 / 08/23/2009 - 08/30/2009 / 09/06/2009 - 09/13/2009 / 09/20/2009 - 09/27/2009 / 09/27/2009 - 10/04/2009 / 10/04/2009 - 10/11/2009 / 10/11/2009 - 10/18/2009 / 10/18/2009 - 10/25/2009 / 10/25/2009 - 11/01/2009 / 11/29/2009 - 12/06/2009 / 12/27/2009 - 01/03/2010 / 01/31/2010 - 02/07/2010 / 02/07/2010 - 02/14/2010 / 02/28/2010 - 03/07/2010 / 03/07/2010 - 03/14/2010 / 03/28/2010 - 04/04/2010 / 04/18/2010 - 04/25/2010 / 05/16/2010 - 05/23/2010 / 05/30/2010 - 06/06/2010 / 06/13/2010 - 06/20/2010 / 06/20/2010 - 06/27/2010 / 07/04/2010 - 07/11/2010 / 07/11/2010 - 07/18/2010 / 07/18/2010 - 07/25/2010 / 08/08/2010 - 08/15/2010 / 08/29/2010 - 09/05/2010 / 09/05/2010 - 09/12/2010 / 09/19/2010 - 09/26/2010 / 09/26/2010 - 10/03/2010 / 10/10/2010 - 10/17/2010 / 10/17/2010 - 10/24/2010 / 10/31/2010 - 11/07/2010 / 11/28/2010 - 12/05/2010 / 12/05/2010 - 12/12/2010 / 12/12/2010 - 12/19/2010 / 12/26/2010 - 01/02/2011 / 03/06/2011 - 03/13/2011 / 03/13/2011 - 03/20/2011 / 05/22/2011 - 05/29/2011 / 08/07/2011 - 08/14/2011 / 08/14/2011 - 08/21/2011 / 09/18/2011 - 09/25/2011 / 10/02/2011 - 10/09/2011 / 10/09/2011 - 10/16/2011 / 11/06/2011 - 11/13/2011 / 01/15/2012 - 01/22/2012 / 04/22/2012 - 04/29/2012 / 06/24/2012 - 07/01/2012 / 08/05/2012 - 08/12/2012 / 08/11/2013 - 08/18/2013 / 03/01/2015 - 03/08/2015 / 10/04/2015 - 10/11/2015 / 11/08/2015 - 11/15/2015 / 12/22/2019 - 12/29/2019 / 04/05/2020 - 04/12/2020 /


Powered by Blogger