Proponents of the space elevator concept aren't thinking about fighting gravity, they're trying to cheat gravity. The examples I've seen of the concept have all described the system as being built from space down, so the structure hangs toward the planet from an orbital site. They always seem to fail to recognize that as the structure gets larger, the increasing mass also increases the gravitational attraction between the structure and the planet, causing the orbit to destabilize.
And then where would you have the structure touch down? You've got MILES of structure subject to stresses from weather that is cracking like a whip through the atmosphere and you're going to nail the small end of the whip to a spot on the ground?
In order to make this sort of plan halfway feasable it requires super light, super strong materials, weather control, and anti-grav as pre-requisites. And if you've got those things, the benefit of a space elevator is what? Anti-grav alone will get you quickly and safely into or from orbit.
You'd be better off with a mass-driver system with a series of independent orbiting accelerators that can be positioned from the upper atmosphere to the receiving space station. Cargo would be flown up to the driver then launched from the upper atmosphere into space.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2006-09-27 05:13 pm (UTC)And then where would you have the structure touch down? You've got MILES of structure subject to stresses from weather that is cracking like a whip through the atmosphere and you're going to nail the small end of the whip to a spot on the ground?
In order to make this sort of plan halfway feasable it requires super light, super strong materials, weather control, and anti-grav as pre-requisites. And if you've got those things, the benefit of a space elevator is what? Anti-grav alone will get you quickly and safely into or from orbit.
You'd be better off with a mass-driver system with a series of independent orbiting accelerators that can be positioned from the upper atmosphere to the receiving space station. Cargo would be flown up to the driver then launched from the upper atmosphere into space.
Doc
no subject
Date: 2006-09-27 07:50 pm (UTC)While I like the idea of a space elevator, I don't think it's going to happen until someone makes Niven's Sinclair Molecule Chain a reality...