Report: Space Elevators Are Feasible 374
Daniel_Stuckey writes "It's the scourge of futurists everywhere: The space elevator can't seem to shake its image as something that's just ridiculous, laughed off as the stuff of sci-fi novels and overactive imaginations. But there are plenty of scientists who take the idea quite seriously, and they're trying to buck that perception. To that end, a diverse group of experts at the behest of the International Academy of Astronautics completed an impressively thorough study this month on whether building a space elevator is doable. Their resulting report, 'Space Elevators: An Assessment of the Technological Feasibility and the Way Forward,' found that, in a nutshell, such a contraption is both totally feasible and a really smart idea. And they laid out a 300-page roadmap detailing how to make it happen."
Re:Why would it be infeasable? (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, the plastic they use for retail packaging should be strong enough.
Re:Why would it be infeasable? (Score:4, Funny)
Problem is that plastic's extremely porous and fragile until it gets to its actual destination. And since the Elevator is effectively always in transit....
I believe the plastic in question is the kind of plastic that semi-permanently entombs your purchase in a chrysalis so touch that you need a diamond tipped super electro buzzsaw or a weapons grade baloneyum industrial laser to burn through it.
BestBuy packaging - toughest stuff known to man.
Re:Arthur C. Clarke introduced me to space elevato (Score:5, Funny)
Clarke had 256 pages and apparently conveyed the general ideas. Paying for 300 pages seems like a stupid thing to do if you want a general idea.
If they cannot communicate how it is feasible in an elevator speech, I don't expect to learn much in the manifesto.
3 pages has sufficed to explain the Higgs (excluding cartoons); I expect to understand the space elevator, in big boy words, in 2 or less. Anything else is hiding something, or so poorly written it cannot be trusted.
Superfluous vocabulary is ostensibly a plausible alternative, however a great many potential readers may find themselves sidetracked by such unnecessary verbosity. As such, I have expectations of a concise manner of thought conveyance as would be warranted by the writers. Vis a vis- said writer probabilistically desires their audience foremost not fall immediately into slumber.
Re: Why would it be infeasable? (Score:3, Funny)
My kingdom for mod points. This is sad but true. If we do ever leave it will be to mine unobtanium like in the movie Avatar, not to further mankind in general.
Picard tries to explain to Ralph Offenhouse from the 20th century that there would be no need for his law firm any longer: "A lot has changed in three hundred years. People are no longer obsessed with the accumulation of 'things'. We have eliminated hunger, want, the need for possessions." (TNG: "The Neutral Zone") - http://en.memory-alpha.org/wik... [memory-alpha.org]
Re:Why would it be infeasable? (Score:3, Funny)
I believe the plastic in question is the kind of plastic that semi-permanently entombs your purchase in a chrysalis so touch that you need a diamond tipped super electro buzzsaw or a weapons grade baloneyum industrial laser to burn through it.
I bought one of those, but I can't open the package it's in.
Sounds like a great idea (Score:5, Funny)