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I liked Elon Musk's note on the space elevator; he basically said "we should look at it once we have a bridge from Los Angeles to Tokyo, because that's far easi
by wlievens 12y ago
I liked Elon Musk's note on the space elevator; he basically said "we should look at it once we have a bridge from Los Angeles to Tokyo, because that's far easier to build".
- phlo 12y agoI disagree with that argument. Great solutions require great problems, and moving things between LA and Tokyo just isn't anymore. Right now, shipping a person costs some $1k (return included) and takes less than 12 hours; a 40 ft container of cargo around $800 and 22 days. Launching a satellite still costs millions. The closest thing to inexpensive space flight is probably Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, which is still in testing. Space remains interesting and unsolved. And as such, I'll bet you a beer we'll have a space elevator sooner than either a bridge or a tunnel directly connecting LA and Tokyo.