WEBVTT - Elevators in Space 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:17.720 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:20.520 Welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Poulette and 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:22.760 I am an editor at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:26.120 Sitting across from me, as usual, is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:32.599 I have a Blueberry for a daughter. An all right, 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:34.800 so today we're going to start off with a little 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:43.479 listener mail. This listener mail comes from Alan, and Alan 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:46.760 says Chris and John. I love your podcast and have 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:49.320 a suggestion for a future topic. You mentioned in your 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:53.240 rare Earth Metal show, the exciting possible uses of carbon nanotubes. 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.480 I've heard that space elevators could be achievable with this 0:00:56.600 --> 0:01:01.840 new high strength weight material. Would consider a space elevator podcast. 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:05.800 Thanks a bunch. Well, we considered it, and we decided 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:10.920 to do it anyway. Yeah, this is sort of the 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:14.960 the area where stuff to blow your mind would normally cover. Yeah, 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:17.240 but you know what, there's tech, so we're gonna talk 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:19.480 about it, darn it, and we beat him to it. Yeah, 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:22.319 I think so. I haven't gone through their entire list 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:24.520 of of episodes. I don't know if they've done an 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:27.640 episode about space elevators or not. But what is a 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:31.840 space elevator? I hear you all ask. It's pretty much 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:39.920 what sounds like. It's an elevator that goes into space. Yeah. 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:44.840 Like many things that we have talked about on this show, 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:50.480 this was apparently originally conceived by a writer, Arthur C. 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:55.640 Clark Gosh Fountains of Paradise, the guy I thought up 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:58.280 a lot of stuff. He did he did well. I mean, uh, 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:00.640 maybe not a lot of the things we've talked about, 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:04.280 but we did talk about the geosynchronous orbit and using 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:06.840 that for communications. That's something that that he came up 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:10.960 with for for for his writing. And in Fountains of Paradise, 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:16.880 engineers build a space elevator on an island called temp Robane. 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:22.080 Probably mispronouncing that, but I'm okay with that. Um. Basically, 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:25.839 it's a uh, it's basically Sri Lanka, which is where 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:29.840 he lived apparently in many respects I have I haven't 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:34.280 read it, um, but basically he in the book this 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:38.720 island is on the equator, which is kind of important. Um, 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:42.040 as we'll get to in a few minutes. But the 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:47.000 idea of being that there is a something I guess 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:51.440 the top floor in geosynchronous orbit, which would allow the 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.520 space elevator to to have a tethered cable at the 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:58.880 other end, and the elevator could move on that cable 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:02.639 up into space and back. Yeah. The the element that's 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:06.800 in geo secrets orbit is essentially a counterweight. It's uh. 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:10.000 If you've ever if you've ever had like maybe a 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:13.320 yo yo and you've done it around the world, that 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:17.240 would be the kind of the concept here. Um the 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:21.000 except of course that the weight is not being um 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:23.440 held in place by the cable so much as the 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.560 Earth's orbit or Earth's gravity rather, but it is an 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:30.120 orbit around the Earth. That essentially means that it's constantly falling. 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:34.680 That's essentially that's what orbit tends to be. UM, but 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.560 you're falling in this circular pattern or elliptical pattern, and 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:43.760 uh the cable is uh anchored somewhere on Earth. Some 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:48.280 plans I saw had it uh an anchor that would 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.600 be on a uh something that would be a platform 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:55.200 in the ocean. Okay, So that's kind of an interesting 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:57.480 idea of because that gives you a little more mobility 0:03:57.520 --> 0:03:59.520 and we'll talk about why that might be important in 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:01.960 a little bit. It. Uh some others I've seen where 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:04.480 they suggested that the cable could be anchored to the 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:08.880 top of a very tall building, which is not quite 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:11.000 as mobile. As it turns out, you aren't able to 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:15.640 move tall buildings around easily. When tall moved buildings move around, 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:20.120 that's usually a bad thing. So, uh, why would you 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:24.320 even consider a space elevator in the first place. Well, 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:26.839 that's a very good question. The point is not to 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:30.520 reach the top floor where the penthouse looks out into 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:35.520 a nebula. That's funny. I was gonna say the crab nebula. Um. Now, 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:40.240 I was reading an article from NASA called audacious or 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:45.440 audacious I don't know, and Outrageous Space Elevators by Steve 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:48.359 Price um and he was the one who explained to 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:52.760 me that this actually came from Fountains of Paradise. But um, 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:57.279 the idea would be that you could transport people and 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:02.039 things and possibly even electric city between the Earth and 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:06.719 space too. I guess space stations or other objects in 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:09.679 space that might, um, you know, be useful for people 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:14.640 to use. Um that was redundant. So uh, yeah, the 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.640 idea being that you could carry things out into space 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:21.560 and back without having to launch a rocket or you know, 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:23.919 spend spend the time and money and and have to 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:27.360 worry about weather openings and things like that. Um, I 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:30.240 assume that having a giant cable reaching out into space 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:34.640 would produce hazards of its own, but I'm sure, but 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:39.119 it would be a fairly affordable method of getting things 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:42.640 out into space. Yeah. The Uh, that's the big point 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:45.520 there is affordable both both of the fact that it's 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:50.080 affordable and in general safer in the sense that whenever 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:52.799 you have a launch, there are a lot of risks involved. 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:55.400 I mean, we all know this because we've unfortunately seen 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:59.520 tragic results of launch is gone awry. Uh, So there's 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:03.960 always an element of danger launching anything into space. It 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:08.599 takes an incredible amount of energy to launch anything off 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:11.479 the surface of the Earth. So you want to be 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:14.320 able to cut down that energy cost. You want to 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.640 reduce the risks. According to our article on the site 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:20.640 we actually have how space elevators will work on how 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:22.799 stuff works dot com, it was written by Kevin Bonser 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:29.080 and Uh. According to to Kevin, the approximate cost to 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:33.359 put one pound of equipment or one pound of anything 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:38.599 UH into space using a rocket based method is ten 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:43.680 thousan dollars ten dollars per pound. That's more expensive than 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:48.360 the really good cuts of beef at my butcher by 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:52.920 by a couple of factors. Actually, uh. The by contrast, 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:58.919 a space elevator could in theory deliver a payload of 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:02.680 around UH at around a hundred dollars to four per pound, 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:08.680 significantly cheaper, right. Um. Yeah, the the NASA article actually 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:13.800 quoted David Smitherman, who is UH Marshall's advance of NASA 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:17.360 and the Marshall Advanced Space Projects Office. Um, and he's 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:21.080 actually looked into the possibility of of UH creating a 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:25.160 space elevator. Um and he said that, Yeah, I saw 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:31.120 um Kevin Monster's article. But the compared cost here, according 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:36.200 to smither And, what Smitherman would be um, oh, shoot, 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:40.720 about two hundred two dollars for a passenger with baggage 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:46.480 at about hundred and fifty, So that's two not bad. 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:50.200 Compare that to the massive amounts of money you would 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:52.520 have to pay to go up on our Russian rocket 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:56.800 to visit the International Space Station, as some as a 0:07:56.840 --> 0:08:02.080 person I know actually did Hello, Richard aread Um. But 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:05.440 the yeah, the the the article that we have on 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:09.000 the side has some really interesting uh factors in there. 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:11.520 You might wonder exactly how would this work? How would 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:15.720 you get a machine to go up a cable all 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:19.480 the way into space? Uh? Well, the the concept here 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:22.720 is is really fascinating to me. It's a it's essentially 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:25.640 a platform or some sort of enclosure, depending upon what 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:29.960 you're putting on there, and it is attached to this cable. 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:33.600 The cable itself is not necessarily really thick either, because 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:37.559 it's it's it theoretically built out of carbon nanotube nanotubes 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:39.080 and I'll talk a little bit more about those in 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:43.679 a second. Um. But the the platform has these robotic 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:48.240 climbers that can either climb up or climb down the 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:51.200 cable once they are powered. And the way you get 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:56.559 power to the elevator is that has these photovoltaic say cells, Man, 0:08:56.640 --> 0:09:00.440 I can't talk today either. We we recently changed our 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.080 podcast recording time and our mouths aren't haven't caught up 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:06.880 to the rest of us. But photo voltaic cells, so 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:10.360 those are the same kind of cells like solar power cells, right, 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:14.040 but these cells tend to be tuned to a different 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:19.640 frequency of light than our solar power cells are UM 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:22.120 they're used, they're made out of different materials. Are solar 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:25.199 cells are are made out of silicon. These are made 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.640 out of other materials that absorb different frequencies of light. 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:34.880 Then you use lasers or lasers to direct the light 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:38.960 onto the cells, which then the cells will convert the 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:43.240 light into electricity, which then powers the robotic climbers. So 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:46.360 all you have to do, I'm making this sounds simple. 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:50.040 All you really have to do just point your laser 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:53.680 at the photo voltaic cell and it does the rest. 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:58.640 Not granted it's it's definitely not in all you have 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:01.400 to do kind of thing. I dismissed that as being 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.240 far too easy. But the idea here is that using light, 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:08.800 essentially you are providing power to this platform which will 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:12.280 then climb all the way up into space. Uh. And 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:15.600 there have been some very variations on this idea where 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:18.160 you might have multiple space elevators on the same cable 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:21.080 and uh and they would kind of do sort of 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:24.120 like a fireman brigade type thing where you would transfer 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:27.360 the payload from one to the other, so you don't 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:34.960 have one UM one platform going the whole way necessarily. Uh, 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:37.959 and it's kind of uh it depends on which which 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:41.640 approach you read. Uh that that will tell you, like 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:44.800 how how high up the counter measure is going to 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:48.480 be and how fast the platform will move. In the 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:53.360 article on our site, uh, Kevin was talking about a 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:57.959 company called Liftport that had suggested putting a platform that 0:10:58.000 --> 0:10:59.760 would be or acount of count of way, that would 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:02.760 be two thousand miles above the surface of the Earth, 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:06.560 and it would move at a speed of The elevator 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:09.679 would move at a speed of around one miles per hour. 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:13.480 So I did some math. Yeah, that means that to 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.840 to make the entire trip to go all the way up, 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:20.040 not a round trip, but one way, it would take 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:24.080 five d point four hours of travel, or around twenty 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:29.080 two days. That's a long time to listen to the 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:34.040 girl from Eponinus that song bum. Okay, that's all I 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:36.840 can do before I get sued. But yeah, now that 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:39.320 is that no one should be forced to listen to 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:45.000 music for twenty two days straight. Excuse me, I got 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:49.360 all choked up. UM. So yeah, it's funny that that 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:51.040 you point that out. I did want to make that 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:54.160 point that this um the article is is very uh, 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:58.320 is really kind of centered on Liftport's concept of doing this, 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:02.880 because um, the version that David Smitherman suggested uses a 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:06.800 little bit different um technology. Now, he said there were 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:08.920 five things that needed to happen in order to make 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:11.719 space elevators possible. The first thing is you needed high 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:15.000 strength materials for the cables and the tower. Well, okay, 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:18.800 the carbon nanotube should probably cover that. I think. The 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:23.240 second is, uh, you know, the the continued development of 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:26.719 the tether technology, which I imagine is going on. I 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:29.760 don't know that for a fact, Um, you also need 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:34.640 lightweight and composite, lightweight composite structural materials to be able 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:38.200 to build the towers and the buildings that necessary to 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:44.720 make it work. The fourth is high speed electromagnetic propulsion. Um. 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:46.640 I'll get back to that in just a second. And 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:50.360 then the fifth is the development of the infrastructure needed 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:54.959 to support the space construction. So um. The fourth is 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:57.880 the one that really applies to the difference between this 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:03.719 and Spaceport because his version basically uses magnetic propulsion. Rather 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:07.120 than touching the cable, necessarily you would be able to 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:11.520 like a maglev train. It would basically you know, move 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:15.520 up the cable without actually touching the cable necessarily, rather 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:19.040 than rather than climbing it. Um. And if I'm if 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:23.240 I'm understanding it correctly, uh, which is really kind of cool. Um. 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:25.800 I don't know how. You would have to be very cool. 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:28.439 You'd have to have a really low resistance in those cables, 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:29.880 so that would mean you have too super cool of 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:34.960 course once you got into space. But it's a neat idea. No, 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:37.920 it's a fascinating idea. I had not come across that 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:40.760 in my research, So that is an incredible idea. And 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:44.160 the reason he suggests, the reason it's so important to 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:50.079 have stations placed at the equator is the uh, likelihood 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:53.640 of storms decreases at the equator, so you're less likely 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:57.560 to have atmospheric interference with the space elevator traveling up 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:02.480 and down the cable. Um. So I found that completely 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:04.520 fascinating because it's one of those things. I think the 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:06.559 first time I actually came across the idea of a 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:11.240 space elevator was in playing Civilization Too, So, uh, you know, 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:13.520 I was going space elevator. What's that? How the heck 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.000 is that even possible? Yeah? Because you sit there and 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:18.480 you think about it, like, how could you do that? 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:20.480 How could you get you know, how do you keep 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:23.720 the tension on the wire. Well, that's easy, the countermeasure 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:26.520 does that for you. Because it's in orbit, we should yes, Yeah, 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:29.680 until if the counter measure were to fall out of orbit, 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:33.640 that would be a bad thing. Uh exactly, if something 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:35.240 were to happen to the cable, that would also be 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:38.080 a bad thing. It wouldn't necessarily mean the counter measure 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:40.480 would fly off into space, because again it's an orbit, 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:42.560 but it would mean that you would, you know, you 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:44.360 would have a broken space elevator. You would have to 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:47.040 find some way of either repairing or attaching a new cable. 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:50.200 Let's talk about the cables for a little bit. Uh, 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:54.640 the carbon nanotubes in particular, which I find fascinating, you know, 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:57.480 just by themselves. Yeah, carbon nanotubes are kind of like 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:02.080 the miracle equipment of the future, right, I Mean it's 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:06.160 like it's like that material that everyone's heard about and uh, 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:09.880 no one's really like it's hard to explain exactly what 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:11.920 it does or what it you know, what what it 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:15.680 kind of functions, it may it may fill in the future. 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:20.080 Carbon nanotubes are made up of think of a sheet 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:25.120 of carbon molecules and they are arranged in a heck 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:28.480 like a pattern of hexagons. Yes, okay, so if you've 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:31.000 ever had any kind of graph paper that was in 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:33.720 hexagon form, I'm looking at you all my war gamer 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:38.280 friends out there, um here okay, I mean the other ones. 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:41.360 I've got more than just you. So anyway that if 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:43.560 you think about it, you've got a sheet of hexagons 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:47.080 all connected together, and then you roll that sheet up 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:50.520 into a tube that's essentially a carbon nanotube. It's it's 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:53.560 takes this sheet of molecules, you roll it up, and 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:57.560 depending on the angle that you roll this sheet into, 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:02.120 um it has certain properties. So if you roll the 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:05.680 carbon nanotubes or the carbon sheet rather one way, you're 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:08.760 going to get certain properties out of this this carbon. 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:11.760 If you roll it another way, you'll get totally different properties. 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:14.360 And you might think, well, wow, that's insane that you 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.520 would just just by changing the angle that changes the 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:20.840 properties of the material. But then think about what all 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:23.320 the stuff that carbons in. Right, you look at the 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:28.680 difference between graphite and diamond, one of the softest materials 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:30.800 that we know about, one of the hardest materials we 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:36.880 know about. Clearly, carbon has got some flexibility, uh figuratively speaking, 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:41.320 so well it is. It is considered as flexible as plastic. 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:46.000 That's that's the line. That and it's stronger than steel 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:48.400 if you roll it the right way, right and um, 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:50.880 from what I understand to the idea wouldn't necessarily be 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:54.160 to take a single tube and run it into space. 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:57.640 They would actually braid these tubes together, which seems like 0:16:57.680 --> 0:16:59.600 it would make it in more. I would imagine you'd 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:02.160 have to grope, yeah, because if you didn't do that, 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:05.200 if it were a single tube, I think it would 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:08.440 be so thin that anything, right, you just slice right 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:11.879 right in half if you came in contact with it. Um, 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:13.840 you know, yeah, you're exactly right. It would have to 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:19.880 be several all. When I say several, I'm talking like millions, 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:24.920 all uh, interwoven together. And that's one of the big 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:28.280 problems we have right now is just the finding the 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:34.240 methodology to create carbon nanotubes length sufficient to work in 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:37.640 this kind of uh you know, this kind of application. Right. 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:39.800 If we were able to do it now, we'd already 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:42.639 have lots and lots of things made out of carbon nanotubes. 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:44.879 So it's it's an ongoing process. I mean, you do 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:47.840 find some products out there that have carbon nanotubes built 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:52.040 into them, like um For instance, there's a some block, 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:55.520 really some some block has carbonano tubes in it because 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:59.320 of one of the properties of being able to um 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:04.480 block harmful radiation. That's one of the cool things there. 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:09.920 There's also clothing that has carbonano twos interwoven into it. UM. 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:11.760 There was the idea that you would be able to 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:16.080 eventually create a Spider Man type suit out of carbonano 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:18.560 twos because one of the the things you could do 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:20.920 is make it so that it would adhere to surfaces, 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:22.840 so you could actually climb up the side of buildings 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:27.040 just by wearing the right kind of suit. It's pretty cool, huh, 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:29.080 Except for my question was how do you get your 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:31.359 when you put your hand down and it adheres to 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:33.919 the building, how do you get it off right? If 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:36.880 it's strong enough to hold you there, how do you pull? 0:18:37.080 --> 0:18:39.040 And apparently it was all in the angle, at least 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:43.200 in this sort of concept that this one scientist had 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.480 for it. Anyway, that's an off track. I just I 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:48.480 just had this image in my head of somebody, you know, 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:51.439 successfully climbing a wall and the suit and somebody, can 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:56.240 I have your autograph and I want my pen back. Sorry, 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:59.480 that's done. You should do that's you know, I can't 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:03.560 get into my else anymore. My keys are stuck right here. Yeah. 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:05.879 So anyway, the carbon nanotubes play a big part in 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:08.440 this because it's it's a material that has the potential 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:15.400 to to withstand the the pressure that the tensile um strength. 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:19.919 It has the tensile strength necessary to fulfill this. I mean, 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:24.200 you're gonna have platforms climbing up this taut cable and 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:27.960 down this taut cable, you know, thousands of miles. It's 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:30.960 got to be strong. Yeah, And I think that's, uh, 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:36.280 that's obviously since that's the very very first thing um 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:40.040 that Smitherman said. You know, you've got to have something 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:43.119 strong enough to to work for this cable, no matter 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:46.399 what type of propulsion the elevator is using to get 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:48.800 up and down the cable, you've got to have something 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:54.520 as robust as something or like the carbon nanotubes. I 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:58.240 am having so much trouble talking today. It's it's a 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:01.960 Friday morning, folks, give us a little break. So anyway, now, it's, uh, 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:04.640 it's really neat to see that they've they've gone this far, 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:08.840 but you know, what about the possibility that there are 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:11.040 going to be whether problems with it or you know 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:13.399 that the cable is going to break while somebody is 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:16.560 in space, or even or they need repair simple repair 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:19.840 right there. There's also the issue of their stuff in 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:22.919 space there what lots of there's lots of stuff in 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:26.399 space as space, as it turns out, is big, really big, 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:30.359 um the but there's lots of little things floating around 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:34.639 in space that could potentially cause damage to either the 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:37.439 cable or more likely the actual elevator as it was 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:41.360 traveling through space. So debris, um, you know, anything from 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:46.560 you know, meteorites entering the atmosphere to uh, you know, satellites. 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:49.040 Just the fact that some set, not all satellites are 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:52.240 geospatial satellites, right, They're not all locked into the same 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:56.439 spot right, In fact, most aren't, I think. So you 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:58.479 get to a point where you have to figure out, well, 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:01.439 what what do we do in the case of there's 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:04.680 a you know, uh, an object that's on a collision 0:21:04.720 --> 0:21:06.679 course with the elevator. You have to be able to 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:10.040 detect those things. You have to be able to adjust 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:13.120 the speed of the climb or descent of the space elevator, 0:21:13.160 --> 0:21:16.280 so it avoids them. Um And with the the water 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:20.119 based anchor, you know where you've got the bottom of 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:23.639 the cable anchored to a platform that's on the ocean, 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:27.960 you at least have the potential of moving that platform 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:31.199 so that you can change the angle enough so that 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:35.399 the elevator will avoid whatever the object is, because even 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:38.280 a tiny object could do a massive amount of damage 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:40.280 the elevator. Because you think, if it's an object that's 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:43.000 moving around essentially in the orbit of the Earth, it's 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:47.960 moving on an incredible speed. So you have to plan 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:50.119 these things out. You can't just say all right, well, 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:52.560 now we've got the climbing technology, we've got the platform, 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:55.520 we've got the cable. Let's do this. You've got to 0:21:55.520 --> 0:21:58.480 be able to protect what you've just built. We can 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:01.560 build it. We have the technology right well, and there 0:22:01.560 --> 0:22:04.320 were there were fears of terrestrial problems as well, not 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:07.960 just weather, but people who might want to sabotage the 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:11.120 space elevator. Yeah, as it turns out, you know, when 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:14.720 people come up with these brilliant ideas that are um 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:18.600 there are potentially going to change the way we do 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:23.159 something you know, massive like moving things into space. It 0:22:23.160 --> 0:22:25.160 means that we've invested a lot of money in time 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:28.520 into that, right, and so what better way to strike 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:31.160 at an enemy than to hit a spot that's going 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:34.400 to you know that that was the result of billions 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:41.080 of dollars of investment and and and countless hours of time. Um, 0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:43.840 you know, take sabotage that and then you've struck a 0:22:43.920 --> 0:22:46.760 huge blow. So especially if you have something like a 0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:50.720 platform floating down in the ocean. Um, depending upon how 0:22:50.760 --> 0:22:53.080 big that platform is, you might not have that many 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:57.280 personnel assigned to it, so it becomes an attractive target. 0:22:57.320 --> 0:22:59.359 This is actually something that people have had to think about. 0:22:59.440 --> 0:23:02.480 I mean, it's you know, if you're if you belong 0:23:02.560 --> 0:23:05.360 to a terrorist organization and you're looking at potential targets, 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:07.639 then you want to look at high impact and you 0:23:07.680 --> 0:23:10.920 want to look at the high probability that your attacks 0:23:10.960 --> 0:23:14.400 going to work. So, I mean, it's an unfortunate reality. 0:23:14.800 --> 0:23:16.679 So that's another one of those things that people have 0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:18.879 had to think about, like, well, how would we protect this? 0:23:19.040 --> 0:23:26.520 And I'm pretty certain that whichever nation comes up with this, 0:23:26.680 --> 0:23:29.359 or if even if it's a you know, a group 0:23:29.400 --> 0:23:33.080 of nations that work together to create the first space elevator. 0:23:33.440 --> 0:23:38.720 I'm certain they will have incredible security measures around that. Yeah, yeah, 0:23:38.720 --> 0:23:43.520 I would imagine so. But I don't think we're likely 0:23:43.600 --> 0:23:47.800 to develop a working space elevator in the next you know, 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:50.399 short few years. I think it's still going to be 0:23:50.520 --> 0:23:53.040 quite a ways down the road. Um. And it seems 0:23:53.040 --> 0:23:57.320 like the logistical things there's a lot to work out. Um. Sure, 0:23:58.000 --> 0:24:00.520 you know, it just seems it's always seem risky to 0:24:00.560 --> 0:24:03.800 me to have a cable running that far out into 0:24:03.880 --> 0:24:07.800 space and expecting it to stay where it is. You know, 0:24:08.000 --> 0:24:11.800 it just seems weird. The aliens don't like that. The aliens, yes, 0:24:11.880 --> 0:24:15.119 they don't. Uh. And you know, I forgot about one 0:24:15.160 --> 0:24:18.159 of the other potential uses for a space elevator. The 0:24:18.320 --> 0:24:21.399