Are Space Elevators Possible?

submitted by magnora7 from youtube.com

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[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (4 children)

Nice video! It reminds me of an excellent sci-fi novel regarding the topic called Pillar to the Sky by William R. Forstchen (author of One Second After). Great read for anyone interested in the subject.

[–]magnora7[S] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Thanks for the recommendation!

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Np! It's entertaining, and it would seem he did his research.

The effort required to actually pull off something like a space elevator would be immense. Not impossible, maybe, but surely impractical... at least until we have some serious industrial advances taking place first. But then comes the question: what would such advanced industrialism look like? Would it be as damaging to the environment as the machine we currently maintain? Would it be worth the effort? (At that stage maybe we could start terraforming planets, which might make the effort more worthwhile, but which might have moral implications as well.)

[–]JasonCarswell 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Also check out Arthur C. Clarke's The Songs Of Distant Earth (which inspired Mike Oldfield's great album of the same name) which features a space elevator.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Songs+Of+Distant+Earth

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Thanks, will do if I can find it. I love all of Arthur C. Clarke's work. The Rama series was also great.