Article View: sci.space
Article #7201Re: Space elevator
From: John Roberts
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 1993 05:41
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 1993 05:41
20 lines
1496 bytes
1496 bytes
-From: chris@chrism.demon.co.uk (Chris Marriott) -Subject: Re: Question:How Long Until Privately Funded Space Colonizati -Date: 5 Jan 93 19:13:12 GMT -The "space elevator" - basically dropping a cable from a geosynchronous -satellite to Earth (and, of course, another one upwards so the centre of -mass stays still) is probably the most *lethal* device one might conceive -of building! Imagine the cable breaks near the mid-point. You have 38000km -of cable falling to earth at *orbital* velocities, enough to wrap itself -around the entire equator of the planet! Go figure out the kinetic energy -involved. How much ocean would it vaporize? Massive medium-term climatic -changes at best - "nuclear winter" scenarios. A new Ice Age a distinct -possibility. Go figure the kinetic energy yourself. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. :-) John Roberts roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov
Technical Details
Message-ID:
<C0F3uD.16B.1@cs.cmu.edu>Path:
arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wupost!udel!rochester!cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!crabapple.srv.cs.cmu.edu!roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.govShow Full Headers
Complete Article Headers
Newsgroups: sci.space Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wupost!udel!rochester!cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!crabapple.srv.cs.cmu.edu!roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov From: roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov (John Roberts) Subject: Re: Space elevator Message-ID: <C0F3uD.16B.1@cs.cmu.edu> X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest Sender: news+@cs.cmu.edu Organization: National Institute of Standards and Technology formerly National Bureau of Standards Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU Distribution: sci Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 05:41:32 GMT Approved: bboard-news_gateway Lines: 21