> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Robert Seeberger > Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2003 12:57 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [Listref] Space Elevators Maybe Closer To Reality Than Imagined > > http://www.spacedaily.com/news/materials-03w.html > > Space elevators have an image problem, mainly due to two prominent science > fiction novels. They appear either ungainly impossible, or so potentially > dangerous to the planet itself you would never dream of building one. With > the science now indicating that they are potentially near-term transport > systems, it's time to review the fiction in relation to the possible > reality. > Three publications by Pearson in 1975/6/7 and work done by Moravec and > published in the Journal of the Astronautical Sciences in 1977 were enough > to prompt Arthur C Clarke to write "The Fountains of Paradise" and Charles > Sheffield "The Web Between the Worlds" - both published in 1979. >
<snip> > Red Mars > The next great opinion-forming novel was "Red Mars", by Kim Stanley > Robinson > in 1992. A captured asteroid is mined using nanotechnology to extend a > graphite cable 37,000km down to the surface. > > Elevator cars take several days to make the journey, and are thirty > stories > high. But the main image from this incarnation is when the cable is > brought > down by revolutionary action. It twists around the planet at 21,000km per > hour, with horrific consequences. > > "Red Mars" was part of a trilogy. In "Green Mars", a replacement cable is > made using Carbon Nanotubes from another captured asteroid. Cars travel up > and down the cable at the same time to minimize energy losses. It's no > coincidence that both these cables are called 'Clarke'. > Minor Nitpick: The asteroid that the cable was attached to was named 'Clarke'. The cable itself had no name except perhaps 'the cable'. Jon Le Blog: http://zarq.livejournal.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
