3 ms·
The main factor when designing a spaceship is mass; getting mass into orbit is currently very expensive. You want to use materials which have very high strength
by gnode 10y ago
The main factor when designing a spaceship is mass; getting mass into orbit is currently very expensive. You want to use materials which have very high strength to weight ratio, such as aluminium, and carbon fibre.
- benibela 10y agoCan we build a space elevator with this?
- wolfram74 10y agoNot with cellulose, and likely not from the ground up. Space elevators are typically imagined as being bootstrapped from a starter cable lowered from orbit. And the tensile strength for a safe one is an order of magnitude or two higher than good steel, to say nothing of plant fibers.
- acd 10y agoCould we build a space elevator with artificial silk? https://www.slu.se/en/ew-news/2017/1/spinning-spider-silk-is-now-possible/ https://www.slu.se/en/ew-news/2017/1/spinning-spider-silk-is...