One more small step towards the space elevator

[Patroklos]

How do you figure?

All you need to do is look at the timeline for carbon nano-tubes themselves. IBM is the leading driver.

 

[El_Machinae]

You can excel in a field without ensuring dominance. China has been a real leader in macro-scale carbon-nanotubes. IBM is unlikely to focus on long, strong nanotubes. Their main interest is using their ability to be in computers. Your dismissals don't really compare to the cited record-holders. A decent number of recent citations for 'long' nanotubes are held in various Chinese facilities.

 

[Patroklos]

And yet they are primarily produced in and used for practical purposes in the US. Edge: US. Your space race alarmism is unfounded.

 

[Crezth]

All you need to do is look at the timeline for carbon nano-tubes themselves. IBM is the leading driver.

That gives no indication of where that dominance will lie in the future. What the trends show are altogether more important than one's current "position."

You completely ignored El Machinae's point that the types of carbon nanotubes and their applications differ between China and the US. The types of carbon nanotubes that are being used in the United States are absolutely not intended for use in large structures - civil engineering and structural design in the US are largely focused on the use of reinforced steel and other strong metals - carbon allotropes are rarely considered. There's not even a really big push towards using them that way in the US, whereas in China there is. It's basic foresight.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

There is a little problem (among others): meteorites. No material can survive such impact, not even CNTs. A tiny asteroid the size of a bean could easily cut the cable. And given the lenght of it such impacts would be rather frequent.

Also they should take a big carbon asteroid somewhere (i imagine from the asteroid belt) and bring it to Earh orbit. i see such task way beyond our current technological level.

Wonder as nobody pointed out such well known problems yet.

 

[Winner]

There is a little problem (among others): meteorites. No material can survive such impact, not even CNTs. A tiny asteroid the size of a bean could easily cut the cable. And given the lenght of it such impacts would be rather frequent.

Also they should take a big carbon asteroid somewhere (i imagine from the asteroid belt) and bring it to Earh orbit. i see such task way beyond our current technological level.

Wonder as nobody pointed out such well known problems yet.

AFAIK the cable is supposed to look like a ribbon - a thin, but relatively wide one. It should survive small meteoroid impacts. Of course it would have to be maintained.

As for the amount of material necessary, it depends on the size of the elevator (I mean, on the amount of cargo you want it to carry). I agree that without first building up decent in-space infrastructure, constructing such a structure would be extremely difficult.

 

[El_Machinae]

Easier than you'd think! You first put up a thread of the stuff, with a counterweight, and then you pull a proper cable up using the thread.

 

[Silurian]

Then Rapunzel can climb down.