Nanotube sheets come of age
This is HUGE! Watch the video…you are actually witnessing production of a strip on nanotubes. They aren’t unrolling it…they are MAKING it.
UPDATE – I was musing on this some more, and while I don’t know if it is strong enough to make a Space Elevator, I was curious about production time and weight. My simple calculations based upon the production rate (47 ft per minute) and weight (170 lbs per sq mile), yields the following.
Time to produce an 18,000 mile ribbon = 3.84 years.
Weight of ribbon, assuming 3 feet wide = 1,700 lbs.
The technology still has a long way to go, but I think we are getting closer and closer to the concept of the Elevator. The coming Materials Revolution might be as signigicant as the Computer Revolution.
Filed under: Science and Technology
Of course I am ecstatic at this news. It both excites and enrages me that we could make an Elevator RIGHT NOW but no one has the will. The costs would be so tiny compared to the boondoggle of the Space Shuttle Program, and the benefits simply incalculable. Imagine being able to lift things into orbit at super-low cost and with no risk. Space stations, moon bases, Mars bases, and other close-range space exploitation could easily be a reality.
Of course there are so many other applications for this emerging material, one of which is flxible, curved video screens.
Mike, so do it already. If the cost/benefit is there, you should have no trouble getting funding and assembling a team. Of course, given your statement that “no one has the will”, I should probably assume that you are including yourself. But, if you’re including yourself, then you really have no right to condemn others. Isn’t that right?
So, if you’re so damn sure that this can be done, do it. No excuses.
C.