An elevator to space

[Dingfod]

You thought the line was long at the Empire State Building? Bradley Edwards of Carbon Designs, Inc. (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=96&e=5&u=/space/elevatormanbradleyedwardsreachesfortheheights) is determined to make Arthur C. Clarke's Fountains of Paradise dream come true. Carbon nanotubes may make this possible sooner than thought. If the cost of launching a pound of material or personnel into space could be reduced from $10,000 a pound to $100 pound, what could that mean scientifically and financially? What would the benefits or drawbacks be?

[Dragar]

It would be a rather pointless exercise unless there was something we wanted to bring down the space elevator, to balance what we're sending up.

[Seven of Nine]

For starters, an elevator would allow us to dock our ships outside the gravity well, eliminating the need for space shuttles.

[Ensign Steve]

For starters, an elevator would allow us to dock our ships outside the gravity well, eliminating the need for space shuttles.

/me shudders.

Tell me this red shirt isn't the only one who got the creeps upon reading that. Seven, who exactly do you mean by "us"? ;)

:assimilate:

[Seven of Nine]

For starters, an elevator would allow us to dock our ships outside the gravity well, eliminating the need for space shuttles.

* Ensign Steve shudders.

Tell me this red shirt isn't the only one who got the creeps upon reading that. Seven, who exactly do you mean by "us"? ;)

:assimilate:

All of us Terrans, of course. :)

Why did my post give you the creeps, Ensign? I assure you that wasn't my intention.

[Ensign Steve]

Forgive my racism, Seven. While I know, intellectually, that your link to the collective has been severed, unconsciously I can't help but have that fight-or-flight reaction when I hear (read) you discuss where "we" are going to dock "our" ships around earth. Must be the shirt. :)

[Seven of Nine]

Forgive my racism, Seven. While I know, intellectually, that your link to the collective has been severed, unconsciously I can't help but have that fight-or-flight reaction when I hear (read) you discuss where "we" are going to dock "our" ships around earth. Must be the shirt. :)


No offense taken, Ensign. Your reaction is a common one, to which I've become resigned.

[viscousmemories]

I thought this sounded familiar. I read a thread (http://www.skepticalcommunity.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=927) on this subject at Skeptical Community last summer. It's a fascinating topic, despite my not having anything intelligent to add to the discussion.

[Ensign Steve]

Speaking of having nothing intelligent to add, there was an episode of Voyager on this very topic, Rise (http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/VOY/episode/68954.html).

Neelix, Tuvok and a Nezu named Sklar head for the surface, but their shuttle crashes. They find Vatm but have no way to contact Voyager. Neelix suggests they reactivate a carriage that is tethered to an orbital space station. If they can rise above Nezu's atmospheric turbulence, they'll be able to communicate with the ship. But as soon as they make the tether system operational, Vatm tries to leave by himself. He's stopped by Tuvok, and the group begins its ascent.

Unfortunately I couldn't find a better picture of the space elevator than this one (the reason probably being that the cg on the wider shots was so laughably cartoony, they didn't want to offer any stills):
http://www.startrek.com/imageuploads/200303/voy-160-sklar-is-knocked-out-o/320x240.jpg

There's a 30 second video on the site, but it also doesn't show much of the elevator, maybe for the same reason. Anywho, this is by no means meant to detract from the OP. Everybody who knows me knows a ST derail is high praise for the topic. ;)

[Blake]

A space elevator also crops up in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy.

Twice, actually. The first time it's constructed, it is destroyed during a Mars-Earth struggle. The falling cable wraps around Mars twice, wreaking almost unimaginable damage.