(CNN) -- It sounds like science fiction. And it was.
Now, 30 years after "2001" author Arthur C. Clarke wrote about an elevator that rises into outer space, serious research is happening all over the world in an effort to make the far-fetched-sounding idea a reality.
The benefits of a fully realized elevator would make carrying people and goods into space cheaper, easier and safer than with rocket launches, proponents say, opening up a host of possibilities.
Restaurants and hotels for space tourists. Wind turbines that provide energy by spinning 24 hours a day. A cheaper, easier and more environmentally friendly way to launch rockets.
Scientists envision all of the above -- possibly within our lifetimes.
"Space elevator-related research is valid, but there are hurdles to overcome," said David Smitherman, a space architect at NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center.
(more at link)
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- recommended by:
- Vierotchka
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- Vierotchka
- added this
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not in our life time.......................
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- JulianCommongold
- 15 days ago
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"A merely clever man could never have thought of it"
lol
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- BenDorries
- 15 days ago
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i dissagree. if we're seeing a space hotel in 2012, then i see this happening in my life time. This race is getting smarter and smarter then ever before. We're going to be the death of our species..
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- SalvadoreSouza
- 15 days ago
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The ultimate Tower of Terror!
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- TheDecemberists
- 15 days ago
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HOLY CRAP! Beam me up Scotty. I'm in.
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I don't know about you guys, but wouldn't gravity combined with both the speed of the Earth's rotation and the speed in which it orbits the sun kinda, I dunno, rip the whole thing apart?
This seems like a pretty impractical way of getting to space, considering that one guy even created a space ship that flies using - wait for it...
LAZERS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAdj6vpYppA
Yeah, that's what I thought...
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No, final answer.
Even with carbon nanotubes.
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- EmperorThan
- 15 days ago
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Nano-tech and buckyballs and buckytubes MIGHT do it, once we already have a manufacturing colony on the moon or asteroid belt, but not any time even remotely soon. With fusion plants to provide energy on a colony,...really really efficient batteries and conductive materials,..... Basically its hard to get a handle on how advances in multiple fields will reinforce potential.
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Yeah, but can you bungiejump off that thing?
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holy crap... this i want to see
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Probably, if we took what we spend in Iraq for a week. Piece of cake, but, oh we might have to stop killing people, forget it.
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- EdJoyProductions
- 15 days ago
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A space elevator will be seen by 2030. Unless of course we kill ourselves off with pollution and/or disease.
Self replicating carbon nano-tubes were looked at a few years ago. Don't know if anyone is still working on it from that direction.
Wonder if they'll let an old lady like me up there when it's built? -
i wonder how long it would take to ride the thing into space? decent elevator music is a must.
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- tangibleparadox
- 14 days ago
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i don't know but that would be badass!
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- Manatee_man
- 12 days ago
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sauce of teh sauce is on teh sauce imo.
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- Jpwhoregan
- 12 days ago
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jeez, not for the claustrophobic
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- backwardspecies
- 12 days ago
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Why the question mark this happened last Wed.
3000 feet flight powered by a laser beam NASA is investing in it
http://www.space.com/news/091106-space-elevator-games-results.html-
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- ras_menelik
- 12 days ago
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Arthur C Clarke had to have been an alien. His books accurately predicted iPods, external hard drives, Skype, flash memory, search engines like Google, email, and more, back when computers were the size of buildings and could barely compute 2+2.
He also holds credit for inventing the communications satellite. Brilliant man.
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I'm a huge fan of this idea because its very theoretically possible. Geostationary orbit is about 222,236 miles above sea level so it would be an incredible engineering accomplishment, but it would save a ton of money since most of the fuel in our rockets is just to get through the atmosphere.
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what we need is skrith ( ring world engineers).
where do we put it? the equator has a bulge due to the spin and is shorter but the spin is at 1000mph.. the poles rotate once a day at almost 0 speed but the problems there are legion. i think maybe jim kirk's home town in iowa.
our tower of babble might be made of diamond, at 22,000 miles that's a lot of carbon. 90% of diamonds are artificial and are industrial not gem quality. actually most diamonds mined are used industrially. a diamond tower could transmit energy and even cool the earth as diamond has the greatest heat transfer( that's why their called ice, they are always cold to the touch). -
That would be one hell of a ride to the heavens....
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- FishaHouse777
- 12 days ago
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I want a teleporter.
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Would it be futile to create a space elevator? How will it work and will it rotate with the earth?
However, I do love the space hotel idea. I wish I was filthy rich to stay there just for 1 day. I don't even like to fly and I still want to experience space.
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- ScorpioGee
- 12 days ago
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Except that would be physically impossible. Sure, we could have the capacity to build one. But, mind you, the planet is rotating and there are asteroids and comets passing near our planet all the time. Even if we DID build one, it will most likely be destroyed within months.
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"A merely clever man could never have thought of it" lol... I thought about this idea when I was 14, now that i'm 33, I don't see this happening at all. We might support it, but the government and it's old farts some of you keep electing, won't do it because it's not profitable enough.
Our government is made up of millionaires, they would only do this if they can make money out of it.
