Blogging with iPhone is like 1 2 3
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Japan plans snail-paced space elevator for 2050
Japanese construction company Obayashi wants to build an elevator to space and transport passengers to a station about a tenth the distance to the moon. The elevator would use super-strong carbon nanotubes in its cables and could be ready as early as 2050, according to Tokyo-based Obayashi.
The cables would stretch some 60,000 miles, about a quarter the distance to the moon, and would be attached to Earth at a spaceport anchored to the ocean floor. The other end would dangle a counterweight in space. The elevator would zip along at 125 mph, possibly powered by magnetic linear motors, but would take about a week to get to the station. It would carry up to 30 people
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
