6 ms·

C'mon space elevators!!!

soofy 14y ago
That's BTW an old Russian idea. The key concept of the space elevator appeared in 1895 when Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris to consider a tower that reached all the way into space, built from the ground up to an altitude of 35,790 kilometers (22,238 mi) above sea level (geostationary orbit).[6] He noted that a "celestial castle" at the top of such a spindle-shaped cable would have the "castle" orbiting Earth in a geostationary orbit (i.e. the castle would remain over the same spot on Earth's surface). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator
- rangibaby 14y ago
  I learned something from this, but isn't it kind of like saying that cruise missiles are an old Indian idea? http://www.brahmand.com/general/missiles.php?satid=1 http://www.brahmand.com/general/missiles.php?satid=1
  - nkoren 14y ago
    Well, yes, but with a liberal interpretation of the word "cruise", that would be 100% accurate. Indians were indeed the first to employ self-propelled artillery in a truly effective military capacity. Probably not in Vedic days, but certainly against the British: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysorean_rockets http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysorean_rockets. It's interesting to note that much of the tradition of western rocketry is descended from captured and reverse-engineered Mysorean rockets. And most of the rest of the western tradition of rocketry is descended from half-crazed Russian mystics and Egyptian ceremonial magicians. But that's another story entirely...
    - huhtenberg 14y ago
      > much of the tradition of western rocketry is descended from captured and reverse-engineered Mysorean rockets I find it hard to believe. Any references?
      - Symmetry 14y ago
        Did you read the Wikipedia article they linked to? It was experience fighting against rockets in India that led the British to develop the Congrave Rocket, which was made famous in the "Rocket's Red Glare" line in the US National Anthem. Britain might have had military rockets at some point before that, but they hadn't used them for at least a century before that point. India wasn't as backwards as you might suppose, there were lots of areas of technology they were very good at such as chemistry and metalurgy. After the Battle of Plassey, I believe, the British captures a number of Indian cannons and found that they were better than the guns that the British had. Of course, they all had different bores and it was too logistically difficult to keep that many different kinds of ammunition, so the British just destroyed them. Which, I think, goes a long way towards illustrating the actual reasons the British ended up ruling India.
walru 14y ago
I'd be happy with a pair of heated long johns.
- lifeisstillgood 14y ago
  I can do naught but +1 such a statement :-)
- stcredzero 14y ago
  http://lmgtfy.com/?q=heated+underwear http://lmgtfy.com/?q=heated+underwear http://www.toast-clothes.com/ http://www.toast-clothes.com/
stcredzero 14y ago
We already have materials strong enough to do this: http://duckduckgo.com/?q=hastol+tether http://duckduckgo.com/?q=hastol+tether So long as you don't require the tether to be stationary and to meet up with a stationary point on the ground, you can have a space elevator with materials we already have.
- rorrr 14y ago
  That made no sense. How you can have a space elevator if it's not geo-stationary? You didn't actually say what materials are strong enough for this (that we can actually produce without bankrupting whole countries).
  - stcredzero 14y ago
    > That made no sense. How you can have a space elevator if it's not geo-stationary? Apparently, you didn't read. The tether rendezvous is with a pod carried by a hypersonic spaceplane, not the ground. The tether can be spun, to make the ground speed of the tether-end even slower. Rendezvous slows down the spinning tether and lowers its orbit, but it can be boosted between rendezvous using very high ISP motors like ion thrusters, which dramatically lowers the amount of fuel to be lifted. You didn't actually say what materials are strong enough for this (that we can actually produce without bankrupting whole countries). Spectra and Kevlar have the required tensile strength for many proposed configurations. There is the added complication of dealing with ions, free radicals, and radiation, however.
    - rorrr 14y ago
      Kevlar is definitely not strong enough. Can't find the data on UHMW (Spectra) in the right units. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator#Cable http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator#Cable
      - stcredzero 14y ago
        Apparently, you are pedantic with terminology. So call it a "Skyhook" and read the HASTOL links. Kevlar is strong enough for some configurations, but none we'd be anxious to use.

soofy 14y ago

That's BTW an old Russian idea. The key concept of the space elevator appeared in 1895 when Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris to consider a tower that reached all the way into space, built from the ground up to an altitude of 35,790 kilometers (22,238 mi) above sea level (geostationary orbit).[6] He noted that a "celestial castle" at the top of such a spindle-shaped cable would have the "castle" orbiting Earth in a geostationary orbit (i.e. the castle would remain over the same spot on Earth's surface). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator

rangibaby 14y ago
I learned something from this, but isn't it kind of like saying that cruise missiles are an old Indian idea? http://www.brahmand.com/general/missiles.php?satid=1 http://www.brahmand.com/general/missiles.php?satid=1
- nkoren 14y ago
  Well, yes, but with a liberal interpretation of the word "cruise", that would be 100% accurate. Indians were indeed the first to employ self-propelled artillery in a truly effective military capacity. Probably not in Vedic days, but certainly against the British: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysorean_rockets http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysorean_rockets. It's interesting to note that much of the tradition of western rocketry is descended from captured and reverse-engineered Mysorean rockets. And most of the rest of the western tradition of rocketry is descended from half-crazed Russian mystics and Egyptian ceremonial magicians. But that's another story entirely...
  - huhtenberg 14y ago
    > much of the tradition of western rocketry is descended from captured and reverse-engineered Mysorean rockets I find it hard to believe. Any references?
    - Symmetry 14y ago
      Did you read the Wikipedia article they linked to? It was experience fighting against rockets in India that led the British to develop the Congrave Rocket, which was made famous in the "Rocket's Red Glare" line in the US National Anthem. Britain might have had military rockets at some point before that, but they hadn't used them for at least a century before that point. India wasn't as backwards as you might suppose, there were lots of areas of technology they were very good at such as chemistry and metalurgy. After the Battle of Plassey, I believe, the British captures a number of Indian cannons and found that they were better than the guns that the British had. Of course, they all had different bores and it was too logistically difficult to keep that many different kinds of ammunition, so the British just destroyed them. Which, I think, goes a long way towards illustrating the actual reasons the British ended up ruling India.

walru 14y ago

I'd be happy with a pair of heated long johns.

lifeisstillgood 14y ago
I can do naught but +1 such a statement :-)
stcredzero 14y ago
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=heated+underwear http://lmgtfy.com/?q=heated+underwear http://www.toast-clothes.com/ http://www.toast-clothes.com/

stcredzero 14y ago

We already have materials strong enough to do this: http://duckduckgo.com/?q=hastol+tether http://duckduckgo.com/?q=hastol+tether So long as you don't require the tether to be stationary and to meet up with a stationary point on the ground, you can have a space elevator with materials we already have.

rorrr 14y ago
That made no sense. How you can have a space elevator if it's not geo-stationary? You didn't actually say what materials are strong enough for this (that we can actually produce without bankrupting whole countries).
- stcredzero 14y ago
  > That made no sense. How you can have a space elevator if it's not geo-stationary? Apparently, you didn't read. The tether rendezvous is with a pod carried by a hypersonic spaceplane, not the ground. The tether can be spun, to make the ground speed of the tether-end even slower. Rendezvous slows down the spinning tether and lowers its orbit, but it can be boosted between rendezvous using very high ISP motors like ion thrusters, which dramatically lowers the amount of fuel to be lifted. You didn't actually say what materials are strong enough for this (that we can actually produce without bankrupting whole countries). Spectra and Kevlar have the required tensile strength for many proposed configurations. There is the added complication of dealing with ions, free radicals, and radiation, however.
  - rorrr 14y ago
    Kevlar is definitely not strong enough. Can't find the data on UHMW (Spectra) in the right units. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator#Cable http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator#Cable
    - stcredzero 14y ago
      Apparently, you are pedantic with terminology. So call it a "Skyhook" and read the HASTOL links. Kevlar is strong enough for some configurations, but none we'd be anxious to use.