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Space Elevator

neal.fun

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Re: Space Elevator

#211

Post by indoordin0saur »

seanc wrote: post #150
isgb wrote: post #133

> Space elevators are actually a possible idea being considered by scientists. > The hard part is making a strong enough cable. And finding enough elevator music... Most engineers would bring up a lot more issues than just finding a strong cable. Also, most attempts with e.g. carbon nanotubes have been abandoned ages ago https://www.newscientist.com/article/2093356-carbon-nanotube... . - We don't have a good ascent m…

Kim Stanley Robinson's description of a Martian space elevator falling and wrapping twice around the entire planet convinced me that they aren't a good idea. https://www.kimstanleyrobinson.info/content/clarke

A fictional representation of a thing exaggerated for dramatic effect and to create plot tension shouldn't really convince you of many things at all. They're rarely accurate portrayals.

Re: Space Elevator

#212

Post by indoordin0saur »

joenot443 wrote: post #173
enraged_camel wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A version of this also happens in the first season of Foundation, the Apple TV series based on Asimov's novels.

Would you recommend that show to the HN crowd? The books are super well liked around here, for good reason. Apple's put out a staggering amount of content the last few years, I wasn't even aware this one debuted!

I greatly enjoyed the first season (haven't seen the others) and I'm usually a curmudgeon when it comes to modern TV shows.

Re: Space Elevator

#213

Post by georgeecollins »

tw04 wrote: post #200
joenot443 wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you recommend that show to the HN crowd? The books are super well liked around here, for good reason. Apple's put out a staggering amount of content the last few years, I wasn't even aware this one debuted!

I’ll give apparently a controversial take. The show is great. If you’re going into it expecting the books to be the guiding source material you’ll be severely disappointed. If you go into it assuming you’re watching a show that roughly takes high level concepts from the books but is its own thing and let it stand on its own, I think it’s worth watching.

I'm fine with series not following the books. But the show bugs me because it has great production values -- particularly the third season -- and great actors. But the writing and plotting is all over the place ranging to very bad. It is a bit dumb and always pretentious. It's the 70's version of Battlestar Galactica of our age.

Re: Space Elevator

#214

Post by cranx »

This is cool, but the UX of the arrows should follow the scroll mode of the device. You drag down on an iPhone to scroll up. Following the arrow and dragging up causes nothing to happen

Re: Space Elevator

#215

Post by hermitcrab »

raducu wrote: post #178
aDyslecticCrow wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Going fast enough sideways so you stay up there is the tricky bit. nah, thats the simple part. getting up there efficiently is the difficulty. once we're up, its just a matter of force over time to create a nice orbit. The faster you go, the more friction you face, and the more heat and vibration your equipment must endure. Going slower reduce friction and stress but use more energy just negating gravity. Slow rock…

> once we're up, its just a matter of force over time to create a nice orbit. It depends what you mean by "up there". ChatGpt tells me you'd free fall from 1000 km to 100km in about 8 minutes. It also did the math that you'd need 1.65G of sideways thrust to reach orbital speed. That's quite a bit of force for spacecraft sized objects. If you have an actual space elevator, sure, you can go to close to geosynchronous a…

>ChatGpt tells me you'd free fall from 1000 km to 100km in about 8 minutes

You trusted an LLM to do the maths when it is just s = 5t^2?

Re: Space Elevator

#216

Post by ajmurmann »

georgeecollins wrote: post #213
tw04 wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll give apparently a controversial take. The show is great. If you’re going into it expecting the books to be the guiding source material you’ll be severely disappointed. If you go into it assuming you’re watching a show that roughly takes high level concepts from the books but is its own thing and let it stand on its own, I think it’s worth watching.

I'm fine with series not following the books. But the show bugs me because it has great production values -- particularly the third season -- and great actors. But the writing and plotting is all over the place ranging to very bad. It is a bit dumb and always pretentious. It's the 70's version of Battlestar Galactica of our age.

I also found the pacing to be inconsistent at best.

Re: Space Elevator

#217

Post by MengerSponge »

tw04 wrote: post #200
joenot443 wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you recommend that show to the HN crowd? The books are super well liked around here, for good reason. Apple's put out a staggering amount of content the last few years, I wasn't even aware this one debuted!

I’ll give apparently a controversial take. The show is great. If you’re going into it expecting the books to be the guiding source material you’ll be severely disappointed. If you go into it assuming you’re watching a show that roughly takes high level concepts from the books but is its own thing and let it stand on its own, I think it’s worth watching.

Lee Pace is great, and the "genetic empire" is a brilliant solution to a hard problem unique to television.

Brother Dawn: How often do we make this choice?

Demerzel: You always make this choice.

Re: Space Elevator

#218

Post by noir_lord »

indoordin0saur wrote: post #212
joenot443 wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you recommend that show to the HN crowd? The books are super well liked around here, for good reason. Apple's put out a staggering amount of content the last few years, I wasn't even aware this one debuted!

I greatly enjoyed the first season (haven't seen the others) and I'm usually a curmudgeon when it comes to modern TV shows.

I enjoyed the first season, for me the others aren’t remotely as good and I abandoned it halfway through the latest season.

Re: Space Elevator

#219

Post by tiagod »

lnsru wrote: post #33
tempestn wrote: post #8

TIL it's estimated that over 48 tons of meteors hit the atmosphere every day. Regarding actual space elevators though, while they're not sci-fi to the extent of something like FTL travel - ie. they're technically not physically impossible - they're still pretty firmly in the realm of sci-fi. We don't have anything close to a cable that could sustain its own weight, let alone that of whatever is being elevated. Plus,…

Space elevator was the perfect application for carbon nanotubes according my professor few decades ago. I wish humanity could unite for such project and enter space exploration phase. But I feel it will stay sci-fi forever.

Thing is, you're going to invest massive amounts of R&D in something that might be impossible, when you could invest in actually building stuff in space so you only need to shoot humans out there.

Re: Space Elevator

#220

Post by thijson »

isgb wrote: post #133

> Space elevators are actually a possible idea being considered by scientists. > The hard part is making a strong enough cable. And finding enough elevator music... Most engineers would bring up a lot more issues than just finding a strong cable. Also, most attempts with e.g. carbon nanotubes have been abandoned ages ago https://www.newscientist.com/article/2093356-carbon-nanotube... . - We don't have a good ascent m…

I think a space elevator on the Moon would be more practical, pointing towards earth. The gravity force is smaller, so existing materials could work. There's not as much of an atmosphere to deal with. It would go past the L1 point between earth and the moon. It could be extended from the poles, where it's most likely where bases might exist.
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