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It’s cool that any kind of space elevator experiment is happening at all, but temper your expectations with the numbers: this is a 10m cable. It is literally a
by mortenjorck 8y ago
It’s cool that any kind of space elevator experiment is happening at all, but temper your expectations with the numbers: this is a 10m cable. It is literally a 1:9,600,000 scale model of a real space elevator.
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y agoThis isn't a scale model of a real space elevator at all. From the article: Shizuoka University and contractor Obayashi aim to launch two small (10 sq cm) satellites connected by a 10m steel cable from the International Space Station. I don't see any ways in which this is a space elevator related experiment.
- cptaj 8y agoThey're testing the cart pulley system in space. Sure, the cable itself is the core technology needed for this, but you still have to work on the rest of it. These nanosats are a good, cheap way to move the TRL forward a bit.
- tomatotomato37 8y agoI actually wonder if that is the true purpose and not what the media glued together out of "thing moving on cable." It could just as well be a test for a space tether or cable centrifuge, with any space elevator research being a secondary thing