A Construction Company in Japan Plans to have a Working Space Elevator by 2050.

[onehandle]

Here, we will be lucky build a new Applebee's.
______________

It may be possible to travel to space in an elevator as early as 2050, a major construction company has announced.

Obayashi Corp., headquartered in Tokyo, on Monday unveiled a project to build a gigantic elevator that would transport passengers to a station 36,000 kilometers above the Earth.

For the envisaged project, the company would utilize carbon nanotubes, which are 20 times stronger than steel, to produce cables for the space elevator.

The idea of space elevators has been described in several science-fiction novels. Obayashi, however, believes it is possible to construct one in the real world thanks to carbon nanotubes, which were invented in the 1990s, the company said.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120221004421.htm

[originalpckelly]

1. I also planned to be a millionaire by now.

Things don't always work out as planned.

[HopeHoops]

7. Yeah, like the Apollo program.

Wait. That worked. The space elevator idea has some serious problems - like storms for example. They couldn't handle an earthquake that damaged a reactor. That's dead space right now. I wouldn't trust said "elevator". We need to get beyond three-dimensional thinking and accept that the universe is multi-dimensional (at least 17 of them initially). Everything is based on Newtonian physics and no astro-physics lab has addressed the reality that we are NOT in a three dimensional world. That's just conventional thinking getting in the way of reality.

[yesphan]

2. 7 1/2 days

to reach destination. That's a long time to stare at the floor numbers.

[VWolf]

9. Or to stand quietly and ignore fellow passengers n/t

[IDemo]

14. Or to listen to "Tea for Two" in muzack n/t

[VWolf]

23. Oh god, could you imagine 7 1/2 days of muzack?

Worse than santorum (either kind)

[hootinholler]

26. Obviously it should play muzac'd versions of Stairway To Heaven

I actually have heard a muzac'd version

[Major Nikon]

31. You're going to have to fart in that amount of time

Best to practice not getting caught...

http://www.java-gaming.com/game/4667/Elevator_Fart/

[Brother Buzz]

3. "Never waste time inventing things that people would not want to buy." -Thomas Edison

[lumberjack_jeff]

4. This is the basket into which our space research dollars should go.

Not mars, not moonbases. This.

[JHB]

6. They actually kind of go together

This makes those more feasible. Those give added incentive to making something like this.

[JHB]

5. There are still many hurdles to this, not all of which are technical...

...and they even admit they can't estimate the cost yet, partly because there are still a number of very large technical issues that need to be worked out before this could be pulled off.

It would be an amazing project once those problems are worked out, but it would take a much bigger effort than one company could pull off.

[AngryAmish]

16. And if they could harvest the static electricity for power...

[VWolf]

8. A wholly owned subsidiary of Otis, I assume? n/t

[Earth_First]

10. "Fools and their money are easily parted" n/t

[Initech]

11. Hey it'll be the perfect transportation route to Newt Gingrich's proposed moon theme park.

[sudopod]

12. The responses in this thread make me despair for humanity. nt

[Earth_First]

13. Seriously? Say this to yourself slowly: ELEVATOR. TO. SPACE. n/t

[sudopod]

15. So. What do you know about space elevators?

No googling. Explain what you know about the idea in a sentence or two.

Just because something doesn't fall within the purview of your everyday experience doesn't make it unimportant, much less crazy.

If you want to have this fight, we can.

[Earth_First]

17. Oh come on now...who doesn't appriciate a little snark now and again? n/t

[sudopod]

18. Right.

[Earth_First]

19. Not a John Stewart fan?

Colbert, or comedy in general...?

Lighten up, yeesh!

[sudopod]

22. Naw, man, science stuff is for nerds.

Besides, math is hard.

EDIT: implying anything in this thread is as funny as Stephen Colbert... :|

[Maine-ah]

20. some minor flaws here

where the hell are 30 people going to sleep, eat, and shit for 7 days? They'd have to make this elevator a small hotel.

[JHB]

24. Yes, it would be. More like a couple of train cars.

The advantage of these things is that (once it is in place) the energy requirements to get things up to orbit are much reduced since you can use more efficient methods of applying that energy.

Rockets have to dump out a lot of energy very quickly in order to accelerate a payload to orbital velocities, which is very inefficient. By being able to use "slow and steady" propulsion that is much more energy-efficient, the per-pound cost of getting something to orbit drops dramatically.

In theory. Once this piece of infrastructure is in place, if it can be done. There are still many technical issues that would need to be addressed before something like this could actually be put in place.

[Uncle Joe]

21. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, onehandle.

[onehandle]

25. Yeah, I'm pretty excited about that potential Applebee's too.

[CatholicEdHead]

27. Ladder to Heaven?

Did they watch too much South Park?

http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s06e12-a-ladder-to-heaven

[csziggy]

28. This would so cool - and think of what a great tourist attraction it would be!

The ultimate ride! Even if you only got to spend a day or two "up top", the trip would be, um, a TRIP!

I've read the science fiction stories about space elevators and thought they were a cool idea, but didn't think anyone would ever be able to build one. I hope I live long enough to see them achieve it, though I will have to live to be one hundred.

[csziggy]

29. For those who think this is a joke

http://www.spaceelevator.com

[csziggy]

30. My husband and I talked about the space elevator over dinner

We want to take one for our 75th wedding anniversary. We'll both be 100 - this will give us something to keep going for!

Meanwhile, I pulled my copy of The Fountains of Paradise to re-read.

[Zanzoobar]

32. A hyphen would help

I swear, I thought the subject line meant working-space elevator, not working space-elevator.

I thought 'they' meant to make people work on the way to and from their cube farms.

Am I alone?