Let's pretend you step into an elevator, hit a button that indicates "up," and then hang on for the next 62,000 miles. Don't forget your space suit.
This far-fetched scenario might be nothing more than science fiction except for the recent development of super strong carbon nanotubes.
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Suddenly, the so-called space elevator has received considerable attention from scientists and businessmen alike. The elevator would stretch far into the heavens and enable scientists to deliver payloads into space without all the noisy blast-off created by traditional rockets.
Sudden thought: Would the entire trip on the space elevator be accompanied by the annoying Muzak that we can't escape once the door shuts on earthbound elevators? Freak-out alert!
Nanotubes are built on the scale of an atom, but they are said to be many times stronger than steel and extremely light. Build a strand of billions and billions of them and you've got yourself an elevator cable.
The concept of a space elevator poking into space was first proposed by science fiction writers decades ago. But the possibilities created by carbon nanotubes are so appealing that NASA is studying the issue and a Seattle company has been created to make it a reality.
Seattle-based LiftPort Space Elevator describes it this way on its Web site:
"A revolutionary way to send cargo into space, the LiftPort Space Elevator will consist of a carbon nanotube composite ribbon eventually stretching some 62,000 miles from earth to space. The LiftPort Space Elevator will be anchored to an offshore sea platform near the equator in the Pacific Ocean, and to a small man-made counterweight in space. Mechanical lifters are expected to move up and down the ribbon, carrying such items as people, satellites and solar power systems into space."
However, Italian scientist Nicola Pugno recently published a paper that claims the nanotube elevator cable couldn't withstand the 62 "gigapascals" of tension needed to support the elevator. Which means, of course, that the cable would break, sending the elevator and its passengers either floating off into space or hurtling back to earth, depending on your preferred nightmare scenario.
University of Oklahoma scientist Dr. Daniel Resasco is a pioneer in developing carbon nanotubes, so naturally we went straight to him for some perspective on the possibilities of the space elevator. Resasco wanted nothing to do with the issue, so I put him down for a "no comment."
Of course, the space elevator has been tried before with disastrous results. The story of the Tower of Babal is told in the Bible, and the effort to build a tower "into the heavens" provoked God into scattering the project engineers and confusing their language.
Today, they are known as "geeks" and they fix our computers.
