Re: beanstalks (was Re: Metallic hydrogen ...)

From: Andrew Nowicki (andrew_at_nospam.com)
Date: 06/08/04 

Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 19:00:08 +0200

Vincent Cate wrote:

> About 48 years ago they discovered "graphite whiskers"
> with a tensile strength of 20 Gpa.

Tensile strength of alumina whiskers is 42.7 GPa.

PS. This thread stinks! Even if cheap, long
buckytubes are available, beanstalks/skyhooks
will not be made for security reasons -- they
are too easy to destroy. This is one reason
why slings make much more sense than skyhooks.
My favorite transportation system is made of
a rocket which accelerates cargo to 2 km/s,
a hoop electrotube (orbital eddy current
contraption described in my space book),
which accelerates the cargo to 4 km/s,
and a bolo, which accelerates the cargo
to 8 km/s.

Relevant Pages