Great concept - seriously doubt the functionality of it tho... It looks like the earth's orbit would be too much for whatever umbilical-like device to withstand. This thing would just be flung off like some billion dollar space boogar.

Haven't any of these guys tried to hang onto the outside of one of those playground spinning thingies when someone is really cranking on it? The cintrifical (sp) force would be too much.

[/failed basic science]

NOT this guy...



[/tries to clarrify]

Space Elevator? Kind of like a ladder to heaven, right?

Actually Bump, if you placed the other end of the tether in geostationary orbit at ~23,000 miles above earth, the centrifugal force would be equal to the centripetal force of gravity. That's why satellites stay in geostationary orbit at that distance. It's also why things in low earth orbit have to make one orbit about every 90 minutes, to generate enough centrifugal force to prevent them from falling back into the atmosphere.

/geek

Talk about an uncomfortable elevator ride. I can't stand the one at the mall, let alone this one.

"Twenty thousand three hundred and second floor... Hardware, children's wear, lady's lingerie... Oh, good morning Mr. Tyler, going down?"

"Heh heh heh, hmm!"

Will it be a glass elevator?
That would be so cool.
Lookin' out the window as the earth gets smaller, and smaller, and small...emph! I think I'm gonna be sick.

Will they also make space escalators for those of us who are claustrophobic?

I read about this in Popular Science a few years back, and I really hope this happens. It would make space travel cheap! And if you wanted a 10,000 pound elevator load, then there needs to be 10,000 pounds of tension on it at all times, so that the load doesn't pull your tether down.

that would make one helluva bungee jump. watch out for a slight burning during reentry.

or it could be the foundation for the world's highest rotating restaurant....

Plus, if someone farts while exiting on the first floor, you have to live with it for however long it takes to get where you're going.

"There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew."

Well who's at the helm? Take to the boobies!

Clevershark We will put you in a box with mirrors.

JerseyTim There will be boobies on every lift, and it's ok to stare at them, that's what they are there for.

Looks to me like it would easily loose traction and slip back down the "ribbon". wouldn't it make more sense to develop some kind of strong yet non-metal chain setup and use gears to climb it?

Doesn't Ace_Lightning have a working prototype in his backyard?

Did someone say boobies?

I've got a better idea...



Monorail!

Here is Arthur C. Clarke's book on the subject: Fountains of Paradise. I think David Gerrold has it in some recent series (calling it a "Beanstalk").

JerseyTim:
Not to mention the music, that would be torture. :P

This would be wonderful if it could be kept secure. This kind of thing would have "terrorism target" written all over it.

And damn them for making this one of the first things to pop into my head.

Collywobbles,

Is there a chance the track could bend?

I must say that the trolling in this thread is excellent... keep it up guys!

Larry niven did a story on this concept in "rainbow mars."
one problem he mentioned is how to keep the tether from hitting satellites in LEO and other orbits at lower altitudes than the tether.

Let's skip the elevator and move right to teleportation.

Ahhhh boobies!

Wait...

GIS for Space Elevator:

The wonkavator?

Is the site farked for anyone else?

FelipeChimichanga -- but does its exhaust go "woooo woooo"?

Some drunk pilot would just fly into it like a giant spiderweb and rip the shiat out of the planetary alignment flinging earth into the sun.

Psh.

what the fark

there's no such thing as centrifugal force

the only force acting on satellites is the force of gravity, which is the centripetal force

Will it have a 13th floor?

I like the one where the it lives in stars for billions of years. Learns to throw himself to other stars, and to make more of himself (big mistake, they turned out to be psycho's)

Sometimes he would watch the stars with the little rocks around them for signs of the wee bitty life forms that would eventually find a way off their rock and onto other rocks. The rocks would inevitably attack eachother, catch fire awhile, then darkness forever.

Was that a Clarke?

Willy Wonka scares me. Alot.

Are the filter's going hay-wire or is everyone typing "boobies" on purpose?

I don't think ribbon is a good means of space travel. While it's cheap, it's really easy to frey. I mean haven't you ever wrapped a Christmas present and used scissors to make those nice curly-cues...

OK. I got nothing. Sorry.

My only experience with "ribbons" are the kind that go in typewriters and the ones that used to go in my hair.

I'm assuming it's neither of those kind. At least, I'd hope not.

Elevators are for wimps. A *real* man would take the stairs.

I would think such a structure would create and distort weather patterns in the area it was built, just like mountains, by altering the flow of air and moisture. Would the friction generated in the upper atmosphere be enough to melt it?

The first I heard of this STS was in 1976 or so, in Destinys magazine. I think Charles Sheffield was the author.
With buckytubes, we are finally nearing a point where the technology is actualy feasible.
Will we follow through? No, Boeing and Lockheed et al will make sure of that.

I don't think a 1 meter wide ribbon is going to alter too many weather patterns.

_Hate_Me
The higher up you go, the less atmosphere there is, ergo less friction.

The ring came off my pudding can....

WeeKeef

labelling a centrifugal force in uniform circular motion is a common fallacy in physics:

When a body moves in a circle with uniform velocity, a force must act on the body to keep it in the circle without change of velocity. The direction of this force is towards the center of the circle. If this force is applied by means of a string to the body, the string will be in a state of tension. To a person holding the other end of the string, this tension will appear to be directed toward the body as if the body had a tendency to move away from the center of the circle which it is describing. Hence this latter force is often called centrifugal force. The force which really acts on the body being directed towards the center of the circle is called centripetal force, and in some popular treatises the centripetal and centrifugal forces are described as opposing and balancing each other. But they are merely the different aspects of the same stress. --Clerk Maxwell.

Sk_wiz
I was trying to remember the name of that book. Thanks for beating me to it, thus keeping me from doing any research on books I have read in the past.

XxTwisted86xx

Not on your life, my Hindu friend!

Devotchka, I love that movie, especially the bit where the fat German kid gets stuck in the pipe. I also like how Gene Wilder seemed stoned throughout.

That concept was completely taken from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".