Inflatable space tower? Sounds like babble
| July 6, 2009 | 5:25 AM
More journal entries from John Moore »
Someone must be high — really high.
Three researchers in Canada say it’s possible to build a 9-mile-tall, inflatable tower made of Kevlar. On top of a mountain. To get into space.
No, seriously. They’re holding the idea up as a competitor for the space elevator. You know, the space elevator — that 80,000-mile-high platform that would be attached to the Earth with, um, a material that hasn’t been developed yet. Something to do with carbon nanotubes.
OK, so one thing the inflatable tower idea has going for it is we already have Kevlar — there’s plenty of it being used to stop flying metal right here on Earth. But nine miles’ worth?
Inside this proposed tube to the stars would be lots of something else — helium and other gases — and an elevator. Well, you have to get people and machinery into space somehow when you’re not firing on all thrusters. Or any thrusters.
I hate to burst anyone’s balloon, but it’s going to be one heckuva wait for the repair crew when that thing gets stuck.
Read more at discovery.com.
Canada, inflatable tower, mountain, satellites, space elevator
