** Money doubts haunt UK Mars effort ** Britain's commitment to future Mars missions is clouded by funding worries - despite the success of the Beagle 2 project. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/3277433.stm
Obligatory quote from It's a Wonderful Life:
George Bailey: What do you want, Mary? Do you
want the moon? If you want it, I'll throw a
lasso around it and pull it down for you. Hey!
That's a pretty good idea! I'll give you the
moon, Mary.
Mary: I'll take it! Then
My take on this: the right kind of space elevator need not compete for
orbital space with an Earth-Moon tether. A space elevator moving in the
equatorial plane of the Moon could be an enabling technology for building
the Earth-Moon tether, since it's probably the cheapest per pound way to get
An amusing afterthought to my last:
You're flying from Tokyo to London, over the North Pole. The pilot
announces a rendezvous with the Earth-Moon tether tip. The plane touches
down on the landing pad there. Some people get off, others get on. A
passenger takes the seat next to you. He looks
Don't get me wrong here and maybe I am being a bit slow here, but I have
some issues that just keep bugging me about the concept of a space
elevator.
1. How do you get it down in the first place. Upper atmosphere winds
can move at over 150 MPH. How do you get a ribbon through that without
it
Joe Latrell asks about space elevators:
1. How do you get it down in the first place. Upper atmosphere winds
can move at over 150 MPH. How do you get a ribbon through that without
it whipping so bad that it either tears itself apart or will be
impossible to catch. A
