*news person* "Scientists, and engineers didn't calculate the acceloration, and the brakes were sufficent. Space elevator headed for crash course to pluto with 4 people and 10 tons of food.
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Crispy wrote:
*Due to a terrorist attack by an extreme environmentalist group - "reds", as they're known, because they want to keep Mars in its original state. And "greens" want to completely change the environment, by terraforming Mars to be like Earth. Amusing colour reversal there. =P Out of curiousity, who are the "blues" then? | |
"Where were you, when they built the ladder to heaven..."
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The "rope" initially is extremely thin. Once in orbit it would be strengthened by what are called "Spinners." They basically go up and down the wire like elevators and slowly lay down more and more wire and twine it to get it to the desired thickness. The spinners once they have completed their spinning process would be used to transport the orbital dock to space. Or if the orbital dock is already built by say, a shuttle, they would finish their journey at the end of the wire and act as extra weight for the platform.
This is what I recall from a television show I watched on it, and may be totally off. I don't remember how exactly they intend to bring the initial wire into orbit though. | |
JordanUl wrote:
Teh Governator wrote: It's our only natural satellite. The Earth has loads of man-made satellites! | |
What about weather effects!?!?! Lightning, storms, etc? It hits it, and I bet its alot of area that thing is gonna fall.
Also, I still think it is very dumb. Just in my point of view, I would rather the goverment just work on a cheaper more usable fuel source, and make rockets better for transportation! | |
Possibly he was referring to natural sattelites of other planets? Also, Earth occasionally picks up small asteroids as sattelites temporairily.
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Untill they hurl themselves violently at our heads -- and god willing, creating superheroes for the good of all mankind in the process.
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A lightning strike would do... What to it? Maybe give the fish in the water below the wire a shock just powerful enough to provide sexual release.
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You all seem to have this notion in your minds that the elevator will fall. The truth is, the Earth is its anchor. If it were to break, it would rise up out of the atmosphere and fly through our solar system, most liekly to be sucked in by the Sun or Jupiter. The spin of the Earth itself keeps it up. It's like spinning around really fast with a length of rope in your hand. Does it hit your face when you let it go?
~X | |
Well, the portion above the break will shoot off like a sling, of course... But the section below it will then come back to Earth...
Depending on the height of the break, that might still be a large chunk of cable, snapping back at us like a huge, super-taught rubber band... Of course, this should only be a problem for those at the facility itself, as this thing should be built way out in the wide open, away from civilian population... Preferably on its own little island in the middle of a large body of water... Of course, if this thing falls into water, it could stir up some hefty waves for the nearby shorelines, but I suppose measures could be put in place to dampen that effect... But in any event, they'll undoubtedly plan for this contingency, and take appropriate design measures (shelters for the ground workers, picking a relatively safe location to build it, etc), so the possibility of this event shouldn't deter the project... | |
It won't snap out into space unless gravity suddenly turns off. The wire being connected to the Earth isn't what holds it there, it's gravity. So the upper half would probably continue in orbit, and the lower one would fall, assume the upper half doesn't reach into the atmosphere, in which case it will fall too, though slightly slower.
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No, it would reach far past Earth's orbit. 20,000 miles. Gravity would have minimal effect on the whole. If you broke it off at the base, it would fly out into space. If it broke somewhere in our atmosphere, due to a mid-air collision, then the lower part would crumble back to earth, but would probably have about the same effect on us as the Mir space station did when it came back down.
~X | |
I doth name this project: 'Babel'!
Lightning never strikes twice!
-Thorg