Here’s a great Article on the NY Times as requested by Beak, Lord Reallylongnameican’tspell, and others. I’ve honestly not read it — but here it is….and Scooter Libby is Guilty! Time to go on a hunting trip with Cheyney before he spills any more beans!http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/magazine/04evolution.t.html?ex=1173762000&en=3b58585e14c063b5&ei=5070&emc=eta1
Christopher Bradley
lol. Actually, I wouldn’t mind hearing that rant.
Maybe some other time.
Yeah, that’s why I think we’d be better off following the Germans by putting solar panels on every piece of real estate. I’m not sure how we would even build to build a giant space panel anyway – we can barely get a rickety space station together. Plus, that would mean a lot of rocket fuel burnt up in the atmosphere. Kinda defeats the purpose.
rainbows4dinosaurs,
Uh, I’ll post about Popper on my blog. CLICK MY LINK.
Oh, I also think that. I’m from Nevada (curiously, the major city in Nevada has a word that is banned by the site, but I’m from the city that is Las —–) and I now live in Santa Cruz, California. It is utterly incomprehensible to me how it comes to pass that the Southwest isn’t covered in solar panels and solar farms. Utterly incomprehensible.
Two things. The damage of putting the satellites into space, even with very conventional rocks, would be far less than the damage done by a fuel oil generator of the same power, if I’ve been informed correctly. It’d be, y’know, a one time thing for the satellite. And much less particulate matter would be generated.
Also, two words: space elevator. I know a guy whose company is actually working on it. They expect to be able to build one in as little as thirty years. NASA says fifty. Either way? In my lifetime, probably. Sweet!
Christopher Bradley
Read your blog post on Popper. Thanks for doing that – very interesting.
A space elevator? Will there be a space fire escape to go with it?
PZ Myers just posted a rather funny critique of the article in question:
Nice.
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/03/darwins_god_and_the_problem_of.php#more
rainbows4dinosaurs
I saw an article on the space elevator on one of those PBS documentary programmes. They are advocating the use of (I think) carbon-fibre nano-tubes. These are incredibly strong and can be ‘grown’.
I forget the details but essentially there’d be a single line stretching from a point on the earth to a geo-stationary point in orbit. The idea is to use it as a kind of conveyor belt to send stuff into space without rockets etc.
Note that currently carbon-fibre nano-tubes are only inches long. But apparently the future is bright.
Yeah, I read about it before – just being facetious. It’s actually a pretty old idea… like, 19th century old.
I’m banking on laser propulsion myself.
Yes! There will be! They’re working on a variety of systems for emergencies. Tho’ maybe the term “escape capsule” is more accurate.
I’m not banking on any propulsion systems for the space elevator, but if I was a gambling man I’d say hydrazine powered motors on the actual lifts.
You’re welcome about Karl, too.
Christopher Bradley
I’m not banking on any propulsion systems for the space elevator, but if I was a gambling man I’d say hydrazine powered motors on the actual lifts.
You might loose. The wheels have to turn on the lifter for at least seven days – how much hydrazine is that going to be? As well ever kilo we devote to fuel is a kilo less we can devote to cargo, and less lift = less profit.
If we can’t make money on this deal it simply won’t happen.
The smart money currently says that an external power source is needed – this will beam power to receptors on the lifter.
rainbows4dinosaurs
I’m banking on laser propulsion myself.
I like to think it’s not an either or situation. A mature transportation industry has a variety of ways to get stuff done.
Space elevators would be good if you’re not in a hurry. If you need to get to LEO fast, nothing will beat a rocket (laser or chemical powered).
Brian Dunbar
LiftPort
Wow. Who would’ve thunk we would have an actual space elevator operator on our blog? FUTURRIFIC!!
Any teleport engineers out there? Asteroid miners? Robotic prostitutes?
Don’t get too excited …
a) I’m not a regular reader of this blog – part of my job is to troll (in the fishing sense of the word) the internets looking for people talking about the space elevator, and comment if appropriate. Little stuff like correcting misunderstandings, answering questions, etc.
b) We have not built it, yet. I mean, yes, get excited, please but we’re years and years from saying “there, done” and heading down to the pub for some brews.
I was just being goofy.
So I have to ask: How does a company that hasn’t really built anything manage to pay someone to troll blogs all day looking for space elevator enthusiasts?
I was just being goofy.
No kidding. Robotic prostitutes are decades off.
How does a company that hasn’t really built anything manage to pay someone to troll blogs all day looking for space elevator enthusiasts?
We actually have built, oh, going on 20 prototypes for lifters, the latest of which has the potential to be a revenue stream; it’s designed to shuttle ‘stuff’ to aerostats a few thousand feet overhead. Things like batteries to enable the package to have longer mission life. We think this would be a good alternative for temporary antennas for ISP use, relay beacons or military radios, disaster recovery assets .. I will admit the market here is a niche but we don’t need a whole lotta customers.
The basic idea is to use precursor technology to power the main effort. We get paid to develop ‘stuff’ that would be useful downstream.
The real answer is two-fold.
* This doesn’t take much of my time – perhaps 90 minutes a day, tops. Less if there isn’t anything actually going on. I let the posts come to me via the magic of search terms and RSS feeds.
* I’m doing this because I like it not because it pays well. To-date my labor at LiftPort has been gratis.
The ‘jokey’ answer to your question is lifted from that old SNL skit “The Change Store” “Making change is all we do. How do we make money just making change? Volume”