Space Elevators: The Time for Laughing is Over

Tuesday, 07th September 2010

home about authors news physics forums RSS feed sitemap privacy physics archives free magazines

Physics Articles

add to favorites

make home page

Astronomy/Cosmology
Education
How Stuff Works
Mathematics
Mystics/Pseudo Science
Other Sciences
Physics
Technology
Theoretical Physics

Our Newsletter

Subscribe
Unsubscribe

Voting Poll

We will most likely find life on...
	Titan
	Mars
	Europa
	Callisto
	Other

Featured Book

Unweaving the Rainbow

Physics Tip

Viscosity
The property of a liquid that makes it resist flow or any change in the arrangement of its molecules. The higher the viscosity, the "thicker" a liquid seems.

Physics Quote

It is impossible to trap modern physics into predicting anything with perfect determinism because it deals with probabilities from the outset.
Sir Arthur Eddington (1882 - 1944)

Space Elevators: The Time for Laughing is Over
	Author: David K. Pullen Added: 05/15/2003 Type: Summary Viewed: 32200 time(s)

How would you rate this article: Bad Good Go »

Interpretations:

It is my belief that current plans for second generation launch vehicles will not ultimately reduce the price to space appreciably. The current benchmark is a cost of $1000/lb or less. Even if the best design manages to marginally beat that goal, the launch vehicle manufacturers will still need to retain a profit margin which will drive the price up slightly out of the elastic region ($600/lb or less). Since the current market is inelastic with price, there is no incentive for the manufacturers to charge anything less than current prices for launches with the new systems. In fact, with the increased reliability of the second generation systems, it may even be justified for the prices to actually go up at first until several competing launch companies enter the market with second generation designs.

Unfortunately, carbon nanotube research has not progressed sufficiently for the space elevator to be an alternative to second generation RLVs. Too much is still unknown about their properties, and the attained laboratory lengths are still many orders of magnitude smaller than the required 36,000 mile length required for an elevator.

Article Pages: « Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Next »

Article Comments Add Comment | View All (2)

Poster: John
Added: -0/5-/2003

Possible to the "material that must bear it's own weight" problem. One, high-durability "balloons" attached at strategic points along the tether. Two, a series of perpetual floating platforms that can "hand-off" the item to be taken to space. Third, a combination of the two could be imagined as well.

I would love to read reports that discuss scientific thinking on these ideas.

Poster: Dennis Cutter
Added: -0/5-/2003

Here's an artical about creating very long Nanotubes. Looks like just a matter of time before we get foot long tubes. With the right glues and faprication methodes these could be made into bundles of rope like meterial used for the space teather concept.

Top

Advanced Search

Recent Science Articles

Recent Articles function is down for the time being as we update the script. Stay tuned for a better and more updated news rotator.

Science Links

Physics Post is just one of many quality physics sites on the web. Contact us if you feel you've found a diamond in the rough.

Astronomy and Cosmology

Chemistry

Credit Counselors

General Discussion

Philosophy

Securities Brokerage

Technology

We provide daily science articles, physics articles and science news.
Our mission is to create a wide array of basic and advanced science articles for you to read and expand your science knowledge. Content here is not reviewed for accuracy, we rely on the expertise of the authors and the peer review in the comments section. If you want to submit a physics or science article please contact us.
All content © 2010, Physics Post. .