Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
 |
Comments on Inflatable Space Tower Prototype Assembled
A twenty-foot prototype of an inflatable tower that could potentially reach out of the atmosphere has fans of David Brin's Sundiver interested. (Read
the complete story)
| "Wasn't Arthur Clarke's elevator earlier? Fountains of Paradise 1979?" (Sabre Runner 6/10/2009 12:42:11 AM) |
| "It was indeed. Sundiver came out in 1980. However the technology is different. Clarke was describing a full on Space Elevator that went from the surface of the Earth to Geostationary orbit. The Needles in Brin's book are 20 mile high platforms that put rockets above most of the atmosphere before they're launched. The New Scientist article specifically describes the inflatable tower concept as an alternative to a space elevator." (Erik Nodacker 6/10/2009 5:39:43 AM) |
| "The first person to think of the idea of a space elevator was Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who was inspired by seeing the Eiffel Tower in 1895. Arthur C. Clarke greatly popularized the idea by describing in minute detail how humanity might build one in his 1978 novel The Fountains of Paradise (still an excellent story, by the way!). Read more about Clarke's description of the space elevator (or orbital tower) from the novel." (Bill Christensen 6/10/2009 8:15:32 AM) |
| "'pseudo science-fiction space battles copied from twenty-century magazines' ... in the '70s and '80s, print s.f. people seemed to think they were in some kind of competition for legitimacy with other media, as part of which they would pretend TV and movies didn't exist ..." (of course the most iconic space-battle imagery was 6/10/2009 4:40:22 PM) |
| "This is soooo cool! I wonder about the winds and how the cold would affect the materials. Did model what those effects would be?" (Mickey Dee 6/15/2009 3:44:48 PM) |
| "So for the final version, put thin wire coils in the center tube every so often and you have yourself a 15km rail gun! The three outer tube diameters could be graded (biggest at the top) so that the weight of the entire structure is negative and less sensitive to wind shear. Cool stuff.
Tim Lesher Portland, OR" (Tim Lesher 6/19/2009 12:30:31 PM) |
| "Good 2003 article here on the state of space elevator development -
http://www.spacewar.com/news/materials-03w.html" (richard 6/20/2009 1:31:51 PM) |
Get more information on Inflatable Space Tower Prototype Assembled
Leave a comment:
Please send your comments to @technovelgy and I'll post them. Thanks!
More Articles
Prairie Madness - And Space Sickness
'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
Can Stratospheric Aerosol Injection Control The Weather?
'...I saw a nice black heavy-looking cloud sailing by just now, and I can get the electrical machine out in five minutes to draw it down.'
SETI Suggests Prospecting The Solar System Without Landing
'From a distance it could resolve the cosmic rays reflected from various substances.'
Wolfram Alpha Mathematica Predicted by Science Fiction in 1948!
'The answer to the dumb student's prayer.'
Cislunar Space And The Space Lanes of Golden Age Science Fiction
'He had travelled the space-lanes of the solar system for the greater part of his life...'
NASA Moonbase Update
'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
Neuralink Will Allow Humans To Communicate With ... Animals?
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
Special Lights For Driverless Cars!
'That light is actually the Anamorphic Equalizer...'
'Old People Began to Cross The Continent In Their Own Cars'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
Harrison Bergeron, Illustrated And Practiced
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
Starfall Manufacturing Drugs In Space
'The vast spinning sphere of Factory in the Sky loomed above and ahead of us, gleaming white against the unfathomable jet depths of surrounding space.'
The Solar Oberth Slingshot
'And if it doesn’t work,' inquired Lazarus, 'what does that make us? Sunspots?'
'Maybe The Woman Of Your Life Is Still Under Production'
'The Dillard people had performed a miracle and put all the works in a girl-modeled case.'
'If Anyone Is Watching Earth...'
'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
Epirus High-Power Microwave Defeats Drones
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
Cloud Of Space Rubbish From China's Long March Rocket
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
Biomimetic Tendons From Rochu Robotics
'... the curious parallelism to animal motions.'
Living Human Neuron Biological Compute Rack
'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
Martha Stewart Approves Ojai 'Living Room On Wheels'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
ESA's Draco To Study Heat Of Reentry
'...a synthetic which air-friction would erode.'
