Spotted this cool video discussing space elevator stuff – passing it along for Sci-Friday. Watch a down-to-earth breakdown of the out-of-this-world space transit system!
I love the fact that he validates the premise of Mike.Sierra.Echo without even realizing it. “All of these ideas assume that we have a method of getting the material required into orbit on a much greater quantity than now, and it might take hundreds or thousands of launches in order to build the first space elevator. It would also rely upon possibly the capture of an asteroid to make the counterweight but another way would be to capture some of the space junk in the nearby by graveyard orbit and from lower orbits. But we still haven’t been able to come up with an idea of how to do this on mass, so it might be almost easier to try and capture an asteroid.”
Thanks Curious Droid – that’s exactly what I was thinking. 🙂
Space Elevator tech involves many exciting possibilities but we’ve still yet to solve the important stuff (a flexible, extensible cabling system that’s both super-strong and ultra-lightweight). When we get there – not if, *when* – we’ll have a simple way to expand humanity beyond the surly bonds of Earth. It’s going to be an exciting time to be alive – I hope we get to see it in our lifetimes.
That’s Sci-Friday for this week – I hope it brings a smile to your face. Please feel welcomed to dive down the rabbit hole of every other Sci-Friday I’ve published in the past couple years. Have a great Weekend. <3
