The Wonkavator

[fatcatfan]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/spacedocumentary/story/0,2763,1041360,00.html

It's always fun when science fiction begins to become reality. It makes one wonder if scientists would ever concieve of such ideas without the intellectual stimulation of sci-fi authors.

[MANDRAG GANON]

Thats really cool, it would be really interesting to see it...even standing on the ground looking at a giant cable that goes up into the sky to no where.....that would be cool, that would be awesome if they acctualyl called it a wonkavator too. I wouldn't go on one of these though, even if I had the money, as cool as it is....it would be freaky.

[carrot red]

And I'd be the first one on it to go pay a visit to a certain Mars inhabitant.

I also know someone who'll stop laughing before America does.;)

[AtmaWeapon]

"None of it is really extravagant," said Dr Edwards, who estimates it would take about $7bn (£4.4bn) to turn the concept into reality.

Oh yeah. $7,000,000,000 to send people into space is not extravagant at all. Not to mention how insanely vulnerable this whole system is to a terrorist attack. What happens if you hit it with an airplane, boat, or missle? If enough of a strain is exerted on the track, I don't think it is unimaginable the whole thing could topple down.

Somehow I think that spending $7bil on less important matters like illiteracy, starvation, and disease would be pure folly compared to the obvious advantages of a space elevator.

Besides, until we can get to Jupiter to meet the dead (http://www.toynbee.net/), I see no purpose to space travel.

[cap2030]

That's just cool.
I really hope they build this.
It would restore my faith in the ingenuity of humanity.

[Axel]

cool. if you combine that with the existing idea of building space ships in an orbital "space dock" to severely reduce the cost of both heat shielding and fuel, this could cut the cost of interplanetary travel to something reasonable.
Atma, you wanna know what the space shuttle costs?

[AtmaWeapon]

It probably costs a ridiculous amount of money that could be better spent on feeding actual humans as opposed to deciding if Mars is a viable place for human colonization. I think we should try and solve our current problems with the resources we have than to spend our resources on the gamble that we could find an amazing new way to grow more food.

The government currently pays farmers to NOT grow specific food items above a certain quantity. Meanwhile, people are starving because we "don't have enough food". How is the prospect of growing more food in space going to improve our current situation when we already have the capability to produce a surplus?

I am sure it would be a great monument to human ingenuity in two ways: First, man has conquered a once insurmountable obstacle. Second, man has done so at the cost of time and resources that could have been focused on more relevant problems. Problems like, oh, I don't know. Cancer? Heart disease? AIDS? SIDS? Parkinson's? ADHD? Nah. Let's make a space elevator instead. Sounds like the human story to me.

Besides, the planet doesn't have a visible penis from space, this will correct that problem. Our planet will soon have the biggest, most expensive cock in the universe. Think 10 inches is bad? Earth is going to have a 100,000 km penis. Take THAT, extraterrestral life forms that may or may not exist! Humans know the true measure of civilization lies not in peace, liberty, and abundance; instead, a civilization's worth is measured by large, phallic objects.

[Jigglysaint]

LOL, atma! You've got a point there.

Last time somebody tried to build a scholng that big, God make it possible for us to have to sit though torterous French classes 5000 years later.

[AtmaWeapon]

Oh man. To think I missed the obvious Tower of Babel reference... I'm embarrassed.

[Pablo]

Humans know the true measure of civilization lies not in peace, liberty, and abundance; instead, a civilization's worth is measured by large, phallic objects.

That is so going in my sig.

Thank you, Atma.

[Axel]

I suppose it's pointless trying to point out that this would save money in the long run since it would eliminate the money wasted on heat shielding and fuel when sending such things as communications and GPS sattelites so that this money might be redistributed to the programs you mentioned. of course, it seems every time this country starts making money we cut down on its source of income: taxes.
then again, you didn't want to hear that, you just enjoyed throwing random insults at the topic.

[Ganonator]

What a beautiful idea. It would pay for itself within the first year. Then, we turn around the money from there to make a space dock. Exciting.

If you are serious about curing other diseases, you would be very interested in what they are doing here. The technology needed to build the nano-fiber is the exact same to make nanomachines to cure diseases such as AIDS.

and at the cost of only $7b... that's a drop in the hat for the US government...

[Dechipher]

...at least, it was before we started bombing third-wolrd countries...

[Yoshiman]

Where would they get a push great enough to send it into space? Don't you have to have a certain velocity to escape the Earth's atmosphere? And what will catch it on the way down? A giant fireproof pillow? The idea sounds like it would fail, but who knows?

50 years from now, I'm going to stumble across thispost and wonder "What was I thinking?"

[AtmaWeapon]

You have to have that velocity if you are looking to fire a projectile into space. If normal elevators worked by those laws, they would kill their riders with the sudden acceleration. It's more like slowly pulling/pushing it up.

I'm sure that because my opinion differs from most of you guys, that makes me horribly wrong. I'm sorry I see little value in the space program. I promise to never offer an alternative viewpoint in the future again, for fear that I am labeled a heretic. I merely see how much money we would save if we would leave space alone until we actually have a viable cheap way to explore it, rather than instating expensive technologies prone to failure. I apologize for being different.

[Saffith]

Now there's something we can all agree on.

[Dechipher]

Originally posted by AtmaWeapon
I apologize for being different.
It's okay, I guess, this time. Just don't let it happen again.

[Axel]

well I may as well give you the same advice you gave me:
if you're going to attack the viewpoints of others you have to be ready for fierce rebuttal.

besides, are you denying the incredible usefullness of sattelite communications and global positioning systems.

[fatcatfan]

I would like to at least say, in response to Atma, that in the context of a global ecomony, $7b really isn't much. When you then consider that the funds would be spread out over probably at least a decade, it gets to be even less. Aren't we putting something like $85b into Iraq in a single year? Yeah, everyone complains that it is a lot, and whether it is or isn't, if we can manage to put that much out in a single year, I'm sure this sort of space project, which would by necessity be an international project, can find ample funding.

Now whether or not it is as feasible or useful as this guy thinks... I don't know. I'm not familiar with the costs and tradeoffs involved, but I'm fairly certain there would be a large number of engineers involved, performing cost analysis to answer just that question.

In our nation's history, nothing has promoted and pushed technological and scientific advancement like the space program (well, maybe that *and* the cold war, but I'm not gonna propose another one of those just to stimulate research). To say that we should focus on domestic (in this context "on Earth") problems and ignore space is to ignore the impetus that will drive scientific advancement. The problems on this planet are largely social and political, and no amount of scientific research will solve them, space or otherwise, but as Ganonator points out, the technologies for this project are closely related to that for relatively minor (minor compared to say, world peace) things such as curing/treating some diseases/disabilities.