[EMAIL PROTECTED] Will the space elevator rise?
> URL to an article in CosmicLog > _http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/18/1206845.aspx_ > (http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/18/1206845.aspx) > > I've always liked the idea of space elevators. Clarke built one from the > ground up in Foundations of Paradise, and Sheffield's idea of connecting > one to the Earth in Web Between The Worlds was terrifying. Robinson's > picture of what would happen to a space elevator if it was cut in Red Mars > was grim. > > First few paragraphs > " If _space elevators_ (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3077701/) work out > the way the idea's advocates hope, sending payloads into orbit would > become as routine as, say, sending a shipment on a freight train - except > that the train could travel straight up for hundreds or thousands of > miles, powered by laser beams. > > But will such a "railroad to the sky" ever be built? That's the big > question hanging over the _2008 Space Elevator Conference_ > (http://www.spaceelevatorconference.org/), taking place this weekend on > Microsoft's Seattle-area campus. And considering that this is an event > primarily attended by elevator enthusiasts, you may find some of the > answers surprising. > > One of the biggest advocates of the concept, the late science-fiction seer > Arthur C. Clarke, said back in 1979 that the first space elevator would > be built _"about 50 years after everyone stops laughing."_ > (http://www.islandone.org/LEOBiblio/CLARK3.HTM) > > There wasn't much laughing to be heard as the talks got under way today at > Microsoft's Redmond conference center (which happens to be a five-minute > walk from my newsroom at msnbc.com, a Microsoft-NBC Universal joint > venture). Instead, there was a long day's worth of serious talks about > way-out subjects such as orbital debris threats and power-beaming lasers. > > And there were a lot of predictions: On one end of the scale, Bradley > Edwards, president of New York-based _Black Line Ascension_ > (http://www.blacklineascension.com/) and one of the pioneers of the space > elevator movement, said creating a space elevator would require much less > time than 50 years - as long as you had $7 billion to $10 billion to > spend. > > "It's really a cost issue," he told me. "If you could get the money, you > could have one up in probably 12 years, 15 years." > > On the other end of the scale was Tom Nugent, project manager for > Seattle-based _LaserMotive_ (http://www.lasermotive.com/blog/), who said > the space elevator would never be built, due to technical and safety > concerns. > > "We don't believe in the space elevator," Nugent told me. The way he sees > it, all the activities spawned by the concept merely provide "a useful way > to demonstrate our laser power beaming technology." > > In between those extremes, there's a _Japanese technological road map_ > (http://www.pinktentacle.com/2008/02/jaxa-testing-space-solar-power-system) > that calls for building a space elevator and a space solar power system by > 2030, and a NASA projection that the elevator would take shape in 200 > years or so. " >
