----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Land" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2004 8:17 PM Subject: Re: Russia to launch first space elevator
> > http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/379/12372_elevator.html > > > > This unique project has been in development for years. > > I found pravda.ru a little hard to take seriously ("Boriska - Boy from > Mars" and "Alien visits Russians Province" sidebar stories were a little > over the top, although "Israel Opens Gates of Hell" sounded like a > fairly typical Brin-L subject line), so how about this, from space.com: > <http://tinyurl.com/12v2>. Yeah, Pravda gets weird pretty often. > > Space elevators are a *long* way off -- the 36,000-km cable is to be > made of carbon nanotubules, still pretty much in the area of >"unobtanium"... Maybe not quite so far off as one might think, and definately not "unobtainium". They are manufacturing nanotubes 3 cm long so far and nanothreads 100m long. This industry is still in its infancy so its likely to have significant breakthoughs in just a few years if the materials people can do what they say they can. But we will probably get to Mars before anything tangible occurs in this industry. Pravda got it wrong in another way too. What they describe is more of a "Skyhook" technology than an elevator technology. > > Dave > > Some kid gets on just before you and pushes all 36,000 buttons Maru > Only 36,000? <G> xponent Slow Ride Maru rob _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
