For a Space Elevator?

Beyond the boundaries of established science an avalanche of exotic ideas compete for our attention. Experts tell us that these ideas should not be permitted to take up the time of working scientists, and for the most part they are surely correct. But what about the gems in the rubble pile? By what ground-rules might we bring extraordinary new possibilities to light?

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Sparky
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For a Space Elevator?

Unread post by Sparky » Wed Aug 18, 2010 9:46 am

Image

http://www.physorg.com/news201229702.html
-one of the biggest obstacles to building a space elevator is space debris-
Really?...Wouldn't such a thing act like a lightening rod?
"It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong."
"Doubt is not an agreeable condition, but certainty is an absurd one."
"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire

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StevenJay
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Re: For a Space Elevator?

Unread post by StevenJay » Wed Aug 18, 2010 10:12 am

Sparky wrote:-one of the biggest obstacles to building a space elevator is space debris-

Really?...Wouldn't such a thing act like a lightening rod?
Exactly. I think the shuttle "tether" incident pretty much assured that eventuality.
It's all about perception.

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nick c
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Re: For a Space Elevator?

Unread post by nick c » Wed Aug 18, 2010 1:23 pm

hi Sparky:
Really?...Wouldn't such a thing act like a lightening rod?
Wal Thornhill issued the same warning:
" Technically it's feasible," said Robert Cassanova, director of the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts. "There's nothing wrong with the physics."

Here we have another example where technology has outstripped science.

So, when Robert Cassanova says "There's nothing wrong with the physics" we may be sure that he means the old, electrically sterile physics applied to the cosmos.

The continual cosmic discharge, which powers the storms on Earth, must be considered when placing long conductors radially to the Earth. Some years ago, the tethered satellite experiment suffered a plasma discharge that severed the tether cable as it was being reeled out from the space shuttle. That phenomenon will be repeated on a grand scale in any attempt to stretch a conducting elevator cable from Earth into space. The power that drives regional thunderstorms will be concentrated into a single cataclysmic thunderbolt, destroying the elevator cable like a thin fuse wire. In the worst scenario, the 50km high ground station will be replaced by a neat, circular crater, like those seen elsewhere in the solar system and attributed, erroneously, to meteoric impacts.

http://www.holoscience.com/news.php?article=r4k29syp
It would be a modern day version of the "tower of babel," no doubt leaving NASA speechless.

Nick

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StevenJay
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Re: For a Space Elevator?

Unread post by StevenJay » Wed Aug 18, 2010 6:24 pm

nick c wrote:It would be a modern day version of the "tower of babel," no doubt leaving NASA speechless.
If only that were true! ;) Unfortunately, they only tend to remain speechless until they're able to come up with some loopy impossible scenario like: "Scientists say that the space elevator disaster was probably caused by a meteor whose trajectory and location exactly matched that of the doomed space elevator, vaporizing the entire structure on its way to the impact that left the massive crater at the base."

At which point, the collection plate goes out for more funding. :|
It's all about perception.

ElecGeekMom
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Re: For a Space Elevator?

Unread post by ElecGeekMom » Wed Aug 18, 2010 8:58 pm

Did they really say that??? :?

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StevenJay
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Re: For a Space Elevator?

Unread post by StevenJay » Thu Aug 19, 2010 7:49 am

ElecGeekMom wrote:Did they really say that??? :?
Don't you mean, will they say that? To quote the late Graham Chapman (of Monty Python fame): "Wait for it. . ." 8-)
It's all about perception.

Osmosis
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Re: For a Space Elevator?

Unread post by Osmosis » Thu Aug 19, 2010 8:38 am

Before they start reeling out the cable, we can sell Faraday suits to the operators at the winch site. ;) ;)

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Birkeland
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Re: For a Space Elevator?

Unread post by Birkeland » Thu Aug 19, 2010 4:14 pm

Wal Thornhill wrote:The continual cosmic discharge, which powers the storms on Earth, must be considered when placing long conductors radially to the Earth. Some years ago, the tethered satellite experiment suffered a plasma discharge that severed the tether cable as it was being reeled out from the space shuttle. That phenomenon will be repeated on a grand scale in any attempt to stretch a conducting elevator cable from Earth into space. The power that drives regional thunderstorms will be concentrated into a single cataclysmic thunderbolt, destroying the elevator cable like a thin fuse wire. In the worst scenario, the 50km high ground station will be replaced by a neat, circular crater, like those seen elsewhere in the solar system and attributed, erroneously, to meteoric impacts.
Hilarious.
nick c wrote:It would be a modern day version of the "tower of babel," no doubt leaving NASA speechless.
I'm sure they would make up some kind of quasi-plausible explanation, maybe something like this:
  • "The disastrous space elevator incident which vaporized the 62,000 mile long nanotube cable and left an enormous burning hole in the ground was caused by a magnetic reconnection event set off by the cable when it accidentally interfered with a frozen-in magnetic field line," a NASA spokesperson said earlier today.
"The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see" - Ayn Rand

Sparky
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Re: For a Space Elevator?

Unread post by Sparky » Fri Aug 20, 2010 12:32 pm

Osmosis wrote:Before they start reeling out the cable, we can sell Faraday suits to the operators at the winch site. ;) ;)
I am assuming that they would send the cable up to the anchor point or manufacture it as it was lowered toward earth....either way, as soon as it was let out a few hundred miles there would be problems, trouble, trouble right here in river city!

And IF it ever did make it to earth ...well, i'd like to be a few miles away to watch the discharge...
"It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong."
"Doubt is not an agreeable condition, but certainty is an absurd one."
"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire

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