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Space Elevator

(neal.fun)
1773 points kaonwarb | 3 comments | 20 Oct 25 04:42 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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isgb ◴[20 Oct 25 12:46 UTC] No.45643283[source]▶
> Space elevators are actually a possible idea being considered by scientists. > The hard part is making a strong enough cable. And finding enough elevator music...

Most engineers would bring up a lot more issues than just finding a strong cable. Also, most attempts with e.g. carbon nanotubes have been abandoned ages ago https://www.newscientist.com/article/2093356-carbon-nanotube....

- We don't have a good ascent mechanism other than rockets - and then we might just use rockets without building an elevator. - We don't have a good (and safe) descent mechanism. - Maintenance? Protection from space debris? Protection from oscillations? Ground-protection if the elevator collapses?

This is dyson-sphere level of fiction. We can do back-of-the-napkin calcualtions on how things would work, but the practicalities make it completely impossible or impractical.

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1. michaelbuckbee ◴[20 Oct 25 13:35 UTC] No.45643735[source]▶
In John Scalzi's Old Man's War, there is a discussion of how the more advanced society that they're interacting with deliberately put a space elevator on Earth, not because it was the easiest or cheapest solution, but as a sort of constant reminder of just how much more technologically sophisticated they were.
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2. cmpb ◴[20 Oct 25 14:26 UTC] No.45644267[source]▶
Really great book (and series). Though it's not "hard sci-fi" by any means, the technology feels real enough to keep my brain from focusing on the holes and enjoy the fun philosophical and ethical problems that Scalzi comes up with
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3. shagie ◴[20 Oct 25 14:45 UTC] No.45644510[source]▶
IIRC, it started out as a reimagining of Space Cadet by Heinlein but instead of the young it was with the old.

After the first book, he then goes to explore all the questions that it brought up. The question of identity (to me) seems like the most reoccurring question.

Btw, there's a new book in the series. The Shattering Peace was released in September.