Anyone have an RSS feed for Neal.fun?
Space Elevator
141–150 of 216 posts
Re: Space Elevator
#142Anyone have an RSS feed for Neal.fun?
He has a newsletter which seems to function as an rss feed. Also his twitter is fun to read!
Re: Space Elevator
#143Space elevator: an idea that resurfaces every 5 years or so, until the practicalities get (re)discovered.
Is there any prospect at all of a material strong enough to handle this?
Re: Space Elevator
#144I don't understand why so many seemingly educated people keep discussing Earth space elevator. For a long time there is a conclusion that the elevator is incompatible with Earth satellites, which mostly fly below GEO, and elevator will collide with satellites, with all negative consequences. The inherent elevator problem has nothing to do with the material of the cable. Am I missing something?
To me, a long-time sci-fi reader but hardly a hardcore space nut, your argument reads a little like "I don't understand why people are discussing horseless carriages, I mean what would the street sweepers do without all the manure to clean up?". In other words, a functioning space elevator would be grand, epic and useful in ways that make the potential loss of some satellite orbits look like a very minor detail. At l…
No, a better comparison would be "why people discuss antigravity sleds". Space elevator could have uses, if it wouldn't conflict with reality about as much as antigravity sleds, levitating a meter above the road, are.
Horseless carriages in this comparison are rockets.
Re: Space Elevator
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s assuming you can’t say detonate a bomb inside the cargo thus resulting in vastly longer section falling down. Space elevators are inherently create a new safety risk as cutting them at geosynchronous orbit only takes compromising some security and building a modest bomb. Both of which are achievable by terrorist organizations.
Accidentally deleted a bit: Space elevators are inherently a means to reach orbit so they create … PS: 911 didn’t happen because terrorists suddenly figured out how to build giant aircraft to douse buildings in tons of jet fuel they subverted an existing system that solved 99.9% of the technical problems. Thus by getting a few violent individuals on board with simple weapons simplified things to only needed to fly an…
That's true-ish, but don't forget that a space elevator is also an enormous amount of orbiting mass all on it's own. So a small bomb can cause it all to come down and wrap around the planet twice.
Re: Space Elevator
#146Couple of things I learned from this: 1. Some birds go really high into the sky. Not sure how they evolved to tolerate such a hostile environment. But it seems that Duck-like birds are able to handle very high altitude. 2. There are lots of cool spaceships that man has made. But it seems most of these were made in the 1950-1990 era. It's a shame that we are no longer doing that.
I was shocked to see a butterfly above the cloud level
Re: Space Elevator
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
List of cool spaceships being worked on now or recently: * The Falcon 9, the first partially reusable spaceship that actually costs less than not re-using anything * Terran R - a fully reusable space ship in the works by relativity space * RocketLab Electron - an active rocket that is unique in its use of electric turbo pumps, 3d printed engines, and advanced composites use * RocketLab Neutron - in the works, a large…
Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser - a reusable lifting-body spaceplane, currently slated to fly to the ISS on top of the Vulcan rocket in December 2023
I had never heard of the Sierra Nevada Corp. and was confused when I thought about the beer company working on a rocket :)
Stranger things have happened though I suppose.
Re: Space Elevator
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
List of cool spaceships being worked on now or recently: * The Falcon 9, the first partially reusable spaceship that actually costs less than not re-using anything * Terran R - a fully reusable space ship in the works by relativity space * RocketLab Electron - an active rocket that is unique in its use of electric turbo pumps, 3d printed engines, and advanced composites use * RocketLab Neutron - in the works, a large…
> * The Falcon 9, the first partially reusable spaceship that actually costs less than not re-using anything We don't really know that. This _appears_ to be the case but the accounting is strange. We would probably get better numbers if the company was publicly traded. I really like the RocketLab designs. Where's the funding for Skylon? Some US company with deeper pockets should license the design (the heat exchanger…
"Appears" or not, but their offered prices and especially the cadence of launching stuff to LEO are currently unmatched, AFAICT. They'd run out of money if they did not make profit on most launches
Re: Space Elevator
#149I don't understand why so many seemingly educated people keep discussing Earth space elevator. For a long time there is a conclusion that the elevator is incompatible with Earth satellites, which mostly fly below GEO, and elevator will collide with satellites, with all negative consequences. The inherent elevator problem has nothing to do with the material of the cable. Am I missing something?
1) It's the only static non-rocket launch system. As such it doesn't require people to buy into the "active support structure" concept which is a prerequisite for orbital rings (2) It's been around long enough to have made it into mainstream culture, especially via big-budget Hollywood movies.
3) The name is straightforward and approachable to laypeople. An elevator to space nicely obscures issues like its mind-boggling size, duration of transit, and even "reach space" vs "achieve orbit."
4) Picturing the structure fixed over a point on Earth seemingly sidesteps sovereign territory issues and international cooperation, further simplifying the conversation.
The Space Elevator is a gateway to megastructures more than a gateway to space.
Re: Space Elevator
#150Couple of things I learned from this: 1. Some birds go really high into the sky. Not sure how they evolved to tolerate such a hostile environment. But it seems that Duck-like birds are able to handle very high altitude. 2. There are lots of cool spaceships that man has made. But it seems most of these were made in the 1950-1990 era. It's a shame that we are no longer doing that.
To your 2nd point, I'd venture an uneducated guess that the reason we were doing this was largely a part of the arms race between USA and USSR during that period.
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