4 ms·
Yeah, that's definitely the main issue. A winner of a competition used lasers to heat the solar cells on a robot causing it to climb a ribbon. https://www.news
by sova 5y ago
Yeah, that's definitely the main issue. A winner of a competition used lasers to heat the solar cells on a robot causing it to climb a ribbon. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18122-space-elevator-wins-900000-nasa-prize/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18122-space-elevator-...
But as you astutely mention, how do we construct such a ribbon? ... Great question.
- failwhaleshark 5y agoSingle-crystal graphene is the leading candidate material. I guess we just need a continuous graphene-making builder robot. If it were me, I would arrange a dozen or so ribbons in a circular configuration for redundancy with a platform climber made mostly from carbon fiber and covered in multilayer insulation.