Do you think Space Elevators will ever become a reality?
Is the science just not there?
Are they too tempting a target for terrorism?
Do you think Space Elevators will ever become a reality?
Jordan Gomez
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Josiah Hill
The economic reward will be so huge that they will certainly be a thing. Brazil and Nigeria will be superpowers once they get one up and running. The difficulty is a material science one, in that no known material would be strong enough to actually build one. But a new technology could be just around the corner that will solve this, it's really just a matter of time.
Kevin Taylor
It is a brute-force approach to a problem which has much simpler solutions. The engineering and materials science acuity required to create something of this kind would much sooner produce safe, reliable, multi-use rockets in quantities so great it would make such a thing as a space elevator superfluous.
It's a very interesting notion, but we'll find a better way much sooner than that. Space elevators are merely a thought experiment meant to answer that age old question: "How do we escape the gravity well economically."
Xavier Hernandez
>Much simpler solutions
Such as? And yes, I know you said rockets, but let's not try to pretend that rocketry will ever be the less complicated science.
Christopher Roberts
I could see space elevators being used on lower mass planets, planetoids, and moons...
But as far as using one on a planet with 7 billion people, religions of peace who have access to 747's, and a planetary atmosphere and magnetosphere, I just don't see it as wise.
Ryder Ross
...
Kayden Foster
We'll just have to put laser defenses on it, that fry anything bigger than a sparrow that gets within a mile of the elevator.
Ethan Young
Then you get into the potential for a maccross missile massacre.
Can you imagine trying to defend your tensile cable from 100 inbound missiles?
Hudson Cox
>tempting a target for terrorism
>target for terrorism
>terrorism
If you stupid humans would stop fighting over trivial problems, maybe you would finally advance and finally meet up with the other intelligent species in your solar system.
Aiden Jackson
What would haplen if we built a space elevator a lightyear long? Would the end be traveling FTL?