The Return of the Space Elevator

Remember my post on Space elevators...

http://www.antionline.com/showthread...pace+elevators
NASA Space Elevators

seems it's still a topic of discussion...

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MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF.--Picture a ribbon stronger than steel that stretches from Earth to the moon and acts as a kind of space highway, on which robots transport materials back and forth.

That is what scientists call the space elevator. And long before it's ever a reality--if it is at all--scientists must discover the materials, mechanisms and wireless power source to make it work efficiently.

Considering it's no small feat of optics, electricity and mechanics, NASA and the nonprofit Spaceward Foundation are hosting the first-ever competitions this weekend offering $50,000 to teams with the best design of robot climber and ribbon. The competition, to be held here at NASA's Ames Research Center, is merely a conceptual demonstration of the space elevator.

"It's far out for us, but we're very interested in the technologies involved," said Brant Sponberg, NASA project manager for the "centennial challenges," a series of government-sponsored competitions that support space exploration. Sponberg was overseeing setup and tests of the competition on Friday.

The "Beam Power" Challenge, which will kick off Saturday at 5 a.m. PST, will test the design and efficiency of robot climbers, machines that can ascend and descend a 50-meter tether ribbon while carrying a payload.

Seven teams from the United States and Canada will get three chances to climb the ribbon, having to travel at a minimum speed of 1 meter per second. For each climb, teams get a score that's a product of their payload mass and average velocity. The team with the highest score will win $50,000.

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http://news.com.com/NASA+hosting+spa...7569&subj=news
NASA hosting space elevator competition | CNET News.com

A RIBBON from here to the MOON ..........

I thought the moon rotated around the earth on a 28 day cycle ????
Does this mean we'll all end up living on the biggest maypole in the universe :D

Concur Fox - to a space station in synchronous orbit it would be (theoretically) possible to extend an elevator that high, however with shifting weather patterns and high winds, I wouldn't risk riding it...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountains_of_Paradise

What if the elevator got stuck? would it have "floors" like an office building? i can just imagine it: call from elevator to techies "Um we are stuck on floor 20,000 can you help us? Techies- " God darn those office dwelling hippies! they ALWAYS get stuck way up there and its my lunch break bob!

Hi The Texan,

Stairs! :D

Eg :D

stairs to floor 20,000 would get all the mcdonald's raised Americans in shape lol

I don't even think one to synchronous orbit is "really" possible. At least not for a while. It defitely would be cool to ride a "car" to the moon though.

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would it have "floors" like an office building?

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I know your joking but take a ball and tie a 3 foot string to it and then spin around really fast. The ball and string is the elevator and your hand is the earth, so keep it still and imagine that thing flinging through the atmosphere at around 1,000 miles per hour. :D

//EDIDT BTW, I think this competition is excellent.

So Road, your saying its a Tether ball like concept? btw i was poking fun but i really think this is a cool idea too.

Yep a great big tether ball. Only a satelite is attached to one end, the other a giant building holding the string. IMAGINE the force on the string.

Well the results are in and there are a lot of very excited people over at NASA

And it seems the Magic Mushrooms out West are good for something, way to go UBC :D

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"What happened this weekend is akin to the Wright brothers' first powered flight," said Spaceward Foundation founder, Metzada Shelef. 'We hope these short climbs will be the first in a series of much longer climbs toward future space elevator concepts. The ingredients are there to make some great future achievements. ' The Spaceward Foundation is NASA's partner in this Challenge program.

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Here is little diagram of how the space elevator may be.
source

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A space elevator would consist of a cable attached to the surface and reaching outwards into space. By positioning it so that the total centrifugal force exceeds the total gravity, either by extending the cable or attaching a counterweight, the elevator would stay in place geosynchronously. Once sent far enough, climbers would be accelerated further by the planet's rotation. This diagram is not to scale.

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--Arthur C. Clarke, 1978, The Fountains of Paradise.

After a cruise through tropical waters, you arrive at a large, anchored platform in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The sea is calm, the sky a picture-postcard blue. But you've come in search of an experience even more uplifting than floating on the balmy seas.

You board an elevator at the top of the platform and prepare for the ride of your life. After only a few minutes in the pressurized compartment, you leave Earth's atmosphere behind and the planet appears as a brilliant, ever-shrinking ball of blue. With Earth exerting less and less of a tug, you feel noticeably lighten The sky gradually blackens and the heavens are aglow with more stars than you've ever seen before.

While you marvel at the crystal-clear view of the Milky Way, you try not to think about a harsher reality: For the next 7 days, your life will literally hang in the balance. All that will keep you aloft is a slender ribbon that stretches from the top of that mid-ocean platform to your destination 100,000 kilometers into space.

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The elevator is going to have to be big. Clark saw the elevator much like MURACU's diagram. Anchored to earth at the bottom and to a large asteroid at the top with a halfway station in between.

Clark though the cable would be made of diamond or sapphire thread I think now the plan would be for it to be a carbon nanotube.

This chap has thought about it a lot:
http://www.isr.us/Downloads/niac_pdf/chapter1.html

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Yep a great big tether ball. Only a satelite is attached to one end, the other a giant building holding the string. IMAGINE the force on the string.

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I would think there'd have to be slack at all times. If that thing ever went taut, regardless of what materials are used, it would probably snap.

Hi The_Captain,

Everything would be wrapped in Duck Tape :D

Eg ;)