aerocontrols
Illuminator
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2001
- Messages
- 3,444
I understand that scientists are estimating that we are about 5-10 years away from having the carbon nanotube composites necessary to build a space elevator. It seems that all news articles I read act as if building the elevator is a snap. (comparitavely - they all say that the carbon nanotube problem is the only significant problem remaining)
It seems like the building process would be incredibly complicated. How can the ribbon be connected to the ground?
Also, does the center of mass of the elevator structure have to be at Geosynchronous orbit? If so, it seems that part of the process of connecting the tether to the ground would have to be to slowly raise the top of the ribbon (some sort of platform or space station?) as the ribbon itself drops to the ground.
There is a webpage that puts forth some claims of the difficulty here. There's some stuff at the beginning where he talks about inertial frames, which is relevant to the problem at hand. Then he starts talking about the problems he forsees with Space Elevator construction and use.
MattJ
It seems like the building process would be incredibly complicated. How can the ribbon be connected to the ground?
Also, does the center of mass of the elevator structure have to be at Geosynchronous orbit? If so, it seems that part of the process of connecting the tether to the ground would have to be to slowly raise the top of the ribbon (some sort of platform or space station?) as the ribbon itself drops to the ground.
There is a webpage that puts forth some claims of the difficulty here. There's some stuff at the beginning where he talks about inertial frames, which is relevant to the problem at hand. Then he starts talking about the problems he forsees with Space Elevator construction and use.
MattJ
