Blue ([info]blueheron) wrote,
@ 2009-07-02 14:29:00
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Current mood: cheerful

Space Elevators Revisited...
So, as some of you may know, [info]shade_42 and I have an ongoing bet regarding the creation of a functional Space Elevator. I would have to go back to my records, but essentially I bet him that there would be a working space elevator within 20 years. That was 4 or 5 years ago.

How to things look now? I don't know. I still have hope, and space elevators have been in the news a lot more than they were 5 years ago. I just don't know if we will be there in 15 years from now. I am still waiting for my flying car. :p

On the other hand, the 9 KM tall space tower serves almost the same purpose, though, without making it through our atmosphere.

I wonder, if it was built, would that qualify for me to have won the bet?


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[info]blueheron
2009-07-03 12:40 am UTC (link)
Right you are. Who works in imperial these days? Isn't that how you screw up joint space projects ;).

20 km above sea level there is still gravity, but the atmosphere is so thin that you see a black sky, even during the day.

They also talk about extending it all the way to 200km if 20km works out. /that/ would be a space elevator!

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[info]zebrallama
2009-07-03 12:42 am UTC (link)
Yes. But I don't understand why they say that about gravity. There's gravity way beyond all the distances everyone's talking about, even way beyond geosynchronous orbit. What do they think keeps the Moon in orbit?

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