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I get the fusion power thing. There has been serious research going into fusion power. But with the space elevator... I don't think even serious materials rese
by daveguy 3y ago
I get the fusion power thing. There has been serious research going into fusion power.
But with the space elevator... I don't think even serious materials research scientists and engineers think we are anywhere close to a space elevator. Yeah, graphene / carbon nanotubes are exciting, but no viable manufacturing technique for the long braided strands required has been anywhere close. Our materials science is just nowhere near and people doing the research understand how far off we are.
- teaearlgraycold 3y agoI’d believe space elevators could be around the corner if we had smaller analogues in production right now. Like a 2 mile tall building supported with miles of carbon nanotube wires.
- seanhunter 3y agoWell yeah exactly. And that's not considering boring stuff like weather, wear and tear, and what happens if the cable snaps and the bottom half comes crashing down to earth. Even a super-light wire would presumably cause a catastrophic impact (and that's not considering if whatever payload came crashing down with it).
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- seanhunter 3y agoPeople were talking about space elevators before graphene or carbon nanotubes existed. I think the original idea came from Heinlein and when I was a kid there was no material that was even remotely feasible but it was still a tech that people talked about being possible in the "near" future.