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I just realized, that the biggest challange in building a space elevator might soon become the space debris. Now, that is a depressing thought.
Do you know why Elon has not embraced the idea? I assume he probably considered and dismissed it, but I never heard anything about why.
It might be that the distance between earth and geosync orbit is SO BIG that the cable needs to be incredibly long, and the tension is so high that it is unfeasible from a material standpoint.
It might be that the distance between earth and geosync orbit is SO BIG that the cable needs to be incredibly long, and the tension is so high that it is unfeasible from a material standpoint.
@cjd
Well, as far as I know carbon nanotubes are on the line, where the physics is still possible, but we do not have a manafacturing process capable of creating the sufficient quality and quantity.
Also, it would be the biggest giga structure so far, so there's that.
b e a r d
@LukeAlmighty @cjd yeah it is theoretically possible but not feasible
@cjd @LukeAlmighty building a space elevator upwards is impossible we cant build that tall. and building down sounds impossible
I think you would launch the cable into space and then lower it down to earth, but geosync is 26,000 miles up, and you'd probably need to do at least 1.5x that, so say 40,000 miles of rope. So I think that pretty much answers the question.
Do we track the trash that's large enough to be an issue?