It may be difficult, everything amazing is. Until you look up in the sky and see Flight 95, United Airlines non stop to Atlanta, blasting by overhead. It will be challenging, and what the heck is so wrong with being part, however small, in helping accomplish something which at it's greatest, most civilization altering iteration may not be finished in a lifetime? I can't think of a more noble, life affirming pursuit, to work tirelessly on something which when completed will benefit not just you, but the entire planet. Count me freakin in.
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Need opinions and guidance building a space elevator.
- Thread starter mcglyph
- Start date
It may be difficult, everything amazing is. Until you look up in the sky and see Flight 95, United Airlines non stop to Atlanta, blasting by overhead. It will be challenging, and what the heck is so wrong with being part, however small, in helping accomplish something which at it's greatest, most civilization altering iteration may not be finished in a lifetime? I can't think of a more noble, life affirming pursuit, to work tirelessly on something which when completed will benefit not just you, but the entire planet. Count me freakin in.
Very true. And thankfully there are people, all over the world who are working on this, because they realize this is the next big step. The big one. Because when we figure out the from earth space elevator which the LUNAR elevator will be a stepping stone to,
we no longer have to worry so much about aerodynamics! If we wanted, we could build a monstrous square spaceship, covered in very advanced solar panels, and just take off from this rock! Admittedly, the square spaceship idea is pretty far off, but we won't get there, without taking the small steps. And the LUNAR elevator is the first.
aborgman said:
Correct.
The whole thing feels like a major scam only one step away from Pons and Fleischmann (or more recently Andrea Rossi).
Give me a hundred grand....I've got an invisibility pill that will be ready in ten years
Yes, it is.
I may not be a mechanical or civil engineer (I'm Electrical) - but I've had enough general engineering courses to tell you that it is.
I'm not arguing it won't happen, and I'm certainly not arguing that one shouldn't support it... I will argue that one shouldn't have completely unrealistic expectations about it.
I'm not unrealistic, I fully believe the people involved with this, are completely convinced a Lunar elevator can be accomplished in under ten years. It is comparatively not very far away. It would be forever, if there wasn't anyone working, talking and rallying for it's continual evolution.
If I was the one doing it, well you'd be double right, however despite your clear assertion, there are minds who actually have been working on this for the last ten years. While the Lunar elevator is well WITHIN reach, though with many challenges yet to go, they realize their ultimate goal (the from earth elevator) may not be fully realized in their lifetime. And still they push on. I say hurray for those doing something for freakin humanity!
You could either go through the last few pages of this thread or spend five minutes on liftport.com or go to Invalid Link Removed
I appreciate your interest. And encourage you to seek further information.
A square spaceship would be far easier to build than a lunar elevator, only we would need to carry it into space via an aerodynamic rocket.
+1
I wonder how long, from original idea to completion, it took for the very first space rocket to be conceptualised, engineered, constructed and launched.
Probably a lot more than 10 years. Im estimating another 50 years, at least, before construction could even begin. With all kinds of bureaucratic red tape to get through, quite possibly longer.
Correct.
The whole thing feels like a major scam only one step away from Pons and Fleischmann (or more recently Andrea Rossi).
Give me a hundred grand....I've got an invisibility pill that will be ready in ten years
You have your opinion clearly. Except the people who are involved in this, are real, highly educated, well respected, ex NASA contractors, and scientists, and just generally very bright people who understand working really hard to do something ten times bigger than themselves! This is not one guy trying to get you to pay for his Ferrari. There are at least 200 people on the Liftport team, most of which get no compensation, as fairly recently the whole thing has been kept afloat by Michael Laine's money and drive. Be an INFORMED skeptic. Please.
I'm sure they are.
So were the folks saying fusion power was 10 years away in 1950.
They're just monumentally deluded and wrong.
i've been asking this same thing and the same answer is what we get, read the link or read the thread.. neither of which answer the question
The first rockets date to about 400 BC.
The first rocket to make it into space was the V2 - in 1942.
So...about 2500 years.
Here we are, all us just poo pooing all over mcglyph's "informed" notion that a lunar elevator will begin construction in ust 10 years.
Not to pile on, mcglyph, as you seem well read on the matter, at least by those purporting it as a possibility, but perhaps you should read up on the skepticism by those in an equally intellectual position who argue against the possibility. Not those of us here on TB, of course, but other scholarly skeptics. Surely not everyone is in agreement that any of this will begin any time soon. As I said earlier, there is a lot more involved in a project like this than just having the means to build it.
Not to pile on, mcglyph, as you seem well read on the matter, at least by those purporting it as a possibility, but perhaps you should read up on the skepticism by those in an equally intellectual position who argue against the possibility. Not those of us here on TB, of course, but other scholarly skeptics. Surely not everyone is in agreement that any of this will begin any time soon. As I said earlier, there is a lot more involved in a project like this than just having the means to build it.
Thanks for that info. In light of that, I now change my estimation for the construction of the lunar elevator to approx. 2320 AD.
So were Pons and Fleischmann.
Pons had a PhD in electrochemistry and was the chairman of the chemistry department at the University of Utah.
Fleischmann had a PhD in electrochemistry, was a professor at the University of Utah, and was a Fellow of the Royal Society.
You know, the time frame is of course mutable. Obviously, though I fully believe a LUNAR elevator is completely realistic within ten years. As for the square spaceship, the idea is perfectly clear; with multiple space elevators, however long their evolution took, we would be able to build things in space. The shape might be up for discussion; once the from earth space elevator is accomplished, whenever that is, building very large objects in space is no longer much of a problem COMPARATIVELY.
This is not a debate as to whether Michael Laine is a scam artist your input is noted, all humans everywhere should be very careful as to what they believe in, and support, got it.
Yep, lots of challenges. Skeptics, informed and otherwise. Very true. And still I believe and support the idea. I don't blame anyone for their opinion. I will however, do my best to help people understand and when possible, support this grand experiment.
