starship-design: Going Up? Space Elevator: Next Stop, Earth Orbit

[KellySt@aol.com]

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/space_elevator_001226.html

Interesting short article on nanotube based skyhooks, which are now 
considered more nearterm then I would have expected.

Kelly



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Bradley Edwards, a physicist at Los Alamos National
                  Laboratories in New Mexico, is a keen supporter of
fabricating
                  an elevator to space. He recently completed research on
                  lengthy space elevators thanks to a NASA Institute for
                  Advanced Concepts grant.

                  "The space elevator appears much closer to reality than has
                  been suspected in terms of available technology, cost and
                  schedule," Edwards said. "The major hurdle is the required
                  carbon nanotubes, but that's getting closer each day," he 
said.

                  Edwards has scripted a plan that suggests an operational
                  cable to space can be installed within 10 to 20 years.