Community | February 23, 2012 | 15 comments

Japan Will Have a Space Elevator by 2050

source: http://gizmodo.com/5887210/japan-will-have-a-space-elevator-by-2050

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It might be the stuff of science fiction dreams, but a Japanese construction company has announced that it will have built a working space elevator by 2050. Where can I join the queue?

According to the The Daily Yomiuri, construction company Obayashi Corp has announced it will have built a space elevator capable of shuttling passengers 36,000 kilometers above the Earth by 2050.

The company plans to use carbon nanontubes, which are 20 times stronger than steel, to produce the cables required for the elevator. Those cables will be stretched to a counterweight 96,000 kilometers above our planet, about one-fourth of the distance between the Earth and the moon.


http://gizmodo.com/5887210/japan-will-have-a-space-elevator-by-2050
  1. groups:
    Community,   Culture,   current cult,   Space,   10 more
  2. tags:
    Space,  up up and away,  going up
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15 comments // Japan Will Have a Space Elevator by 2050

  • deane
  • riffmage
    • +1
      riffmage  

    • Where will they build this thing? Earthquakes. In the middle of the largest tectonic plate might work. ub3r rivets 9000 patent anyone? Or maybe in Switzerland because 'it' is decriminalized and is a mountain (halfway there+/-) then you can get even higher d:)-~~ssSSmokin'

    • 3 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • rluz
  • Saladin
    • +1
      Saladin  

    • It's certainly feasible but you'd have to actually invent carbon nanotubes before you could do it.

      From what I understand, they're mostly theoretical. No one has built the kind you'd need to do something this insane.

      That being said, it would be a *huge* leap forward for space colonization if it was that easy to send people and materials into lower orbit. It would be far more sensible than launching rockets all the time. And maybe one day, we could all visit space for a modest price.

    • 3 months ago
  • freehit
    • 0
      freehit  
    • Saladin:

      They have them but the current maximum growth length is close to a eighth inch. I've seen cool video of where a substrate is covered in what looks like black velvet. You pinch off a bit and pull slowly upwards and it comes off in a strand as each tube clings to it's neighbor. What you mean (or at least I think so) is that there is no means to make a continuous nano tube of cabon like we make wire. Wish I could remember where I saw it or I would post a link pronto.

    • 3 months ago
  • tverdell
  • EmperorThan
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Sure, they need it to get away from the radiation. Imagine putting the funds for that into rebuilding their country ravaged by a tsunami and extreme weather and finding displaced people a place to live?

    • 3 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • jubal
  • Mitekillem1
    • +1
      Mitekillem1  

    • This sounds like something straight out of a Jules Verne novel.
      Is it wrong to think that we should be way further along in our technology to have something 100 times better than a Space Elevator?

    • 3 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • Mitekillem1:

      Well, yeah, duh. We could have spacecraft with helium-filled outer walls and a lightning drive... but that would be way too easy, and everyone knows ~thanks to Good ol' George Bush~ that every step forward hasta be Hard. No shortcuts, no Cheating! Slog on soldiers, win one for the Gipper.

    • 3 months ago
  • trut
  • remanns
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