WEBVTT - Can We Build an Elevator to Space? 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to you stuff you should know from house Stuff 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:12.720 Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:15.720 Josh Clark and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant and that 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:20.160 makes this stuff you should miss. So did you hear 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:23.440 Snap Dog's son got a football scholarship to I think 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:28.280 you see? Yeah? So did uh P Diddes? No way? Yeah? 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:31.640 And actually Sean Combs was the first to happen. It 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.200 was about a month ago, and a lot of people 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:37.479 got upset because they were like, we shouldn't you know, 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:42.920 be paying for this millionaire multimillionaire son to go to college. 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:46.199 But it was all explained. The sports guys came out 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:49.120 and really defended and said, it's not you paying for it. 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:53.240 It's athletic scholarships that are earned by athletes. And it's 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:59.080 a well probably, but it was like, basically, it's not 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:02.320 like some kid missing out on an education. Because Pete 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:04.959 Eddy's son earned a football scholarship, he should be treated 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:07.120 the same and so should Snoop Dogg sign. Where was 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:09.760 there an outcry about Snoop Dogg sign? Uh? Not as 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:13.839 much because he's the g you see. No one likes Puffy. 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:19.160 I don't understand he seems like a nice enough guy. Uh, 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:21.600 here's friends with Biggie Smalls. I was in his house once. 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:24.040 I'd ever tell you that I had to. I was 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:25.840 working on a music video with him and I had 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:28.040 to deliver as a p a something to his home 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:30.800 in Beverly Hills. And I went to the door and 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:34.800 I rang the doorbell, and some really large guy in 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:38.280 a warm up suit and like a Kane gold hat 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:41.280 invited me in and took my thing and then escorted 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:43.600 me out. So I was like in the little fourier 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:46.800 and it was like lots of white marble, and I 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:49.320 mean it looked it could have been like the King 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:51.560 of France living there as far as I know. Yeah, 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.840 there's like a fountain of sur rock. It was really 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:57.600 like pretty plush. Of course, you know he's rich. But 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:00.840 I took your thing. Is that lead? Are you talking 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:03.160 about everything above the boards? Oh? Yeah it was. It 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:06.040 was like a video cassettes for the shoot or something 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:09.120 like that. I wouldn't be delivering anything illegal. Well, I 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:11.280 didn't know if he did something illegal to you by 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:13.600 taking your things, you put it. It was all on 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:15.920 the up, could go and chuck anyway. I haven't been 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.280 to Snoop's house yet, although I did seem one night 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:20.799 in Atlanta, you did. Yeah, I can't tell that story. Though, 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:26.400 let's hear part time, doesn't he I'm used to, I believe. 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:29.160 I'm not sure what a weird start for the show. Yeah, 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:31.080 it is a little weird, especially since we're talking about 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:33.679 space elevators. Has nothing to do with it. This is 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:36.040 not like we're talking about like p Funk or George 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:39.080 Clinton andthing like that, or even Bill Clinton. Although I 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:42.160 bet George Clinton could build a space elevator in his mind. 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:48.040 You know he has many times chuck. Um, Well, I've 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:52.120 got I've got something. I have an actual Yeah, it 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:56.720 seems kind of stupid, now let's hear it. Uh well, okay, 0:02:56.840 --> 0:03:00.680 um five fifty seven am. On July one, thousand eleven, 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:05.919 About a year ago, something big ended, something that really 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:09.880 helped with our childhood, like really was an icon of 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:13.240 our childhood. I'm not even gonna let you guess. The 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:17.280 Space Shuttle. Of course, the program ended. It started in 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:21.400 one and it went all the way to two thousand eleven, 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:30.200 thirty great years. Yeah, um and uh more missions um 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:33.480 and actually there's this awesome thing on gizmoto. It's you 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:36.280 can watch all of the space Shuttle launches at once. 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:39.520 It's just like a hundred and thirty five little tiles 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:42.320 on the screen, and it's like, you know, starting from 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:46.600 countdown to lift off and like it's got everything. Well, 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:49.880 they probably don't have the one ill fated attempt. There 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:52.800 were two accidents, one of yeah, it's there, I think 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:55.080 I found it, and it just goes dark at about 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:59.560 the time the Challenger UM exploded. Yeah. Um, but it 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.720 was the was a huge deal for our childhood. But 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:04.560 it's also you know, a huge deal for the space 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:07.520 program because when they launched the first shuttle I think 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:11.240 it was Columbia. Um, it was the first time that 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:14.640 anyone had ever shot a spacecraft into space and then 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:18.680 brought it back intact usable. Is huge. Yeah, we're not 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:21.839 talking like a capsule where like Larry Hagman comes down 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:25.880 and splashes into the sea and then gets out, because 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:29.479 those capsules weren't reused. This was like, we have an 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:34.560 appropriately named space shuttle there and back basically exactly. It 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:36.599 even looked like a plane. So it was a big 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:38.520 deal when this happened and it proved like okay, we 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:40.600 can go to space and back using the same equipment. 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:44.880 It brought costs down tremendously. Sure, they're still pretty high. Um. 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:47.680 And then the space Shuttle program ends and everybody's like, 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:50.840 how are we going to get to space and back? Now, Obama, 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:54.960 did you think it's through? And uh, Obama didn't say it, 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:56.640 but I'll bet he was thinking it when he was 0:04:56.720 --> 0:05:00.560 kind of skulking away after being shouted at for basically 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:05.560 closing NASA. Not true. Um, he probably thought, have you 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:11.159 ever heard of the space elevator? Dummy? You should say that. Yeah. Uh, 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:13.159 that's what we're gonna talk about. Josh, and I thought 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:17.120 this was a thrilling article. You thought the article itself 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:19.919 was thrilling. No, no, no, the concept of the space elevator, 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.400 well it is. Yeah, the article self was a little 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:25.520 It was a little two thousand five. It's at outdated, 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:28.560 but it's pretty cool. Um. So you mentioned the Space Shuttle. 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:32.200 Even though the Space Shuttle took place over the span 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:34.120 of what do you say, thirty years? Yeah, anyone to 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:38.080 two thousand eleven, the price of getting the thing going 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:41.039 didn't change a whole lot, which was pretty remarkable. Yeah, 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:44.960 it stayed about ten thousan dollars per pound, right, And 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:47.960 they originally predicted when they were working on the Shuttle 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:51.120 program before it started, that it was gonna be about 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:54.800 fifty million a mission. Yeah. It came to about five 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:58.080 million a mission. In every mission. They spent half a 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:03.119 billion dollars on the shuttle the Shuttle mission. Um, and uh, 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:09.400 that ten dollars per pound of that is fuel? Yeah? 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:11.560 Is that the per pound of everything on there? Yeah? 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:13.760 I think it's just like that kind of equation. So 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:18.719 a lighter astronaut would be cheaper, don't don't really symbolic, 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:21.320 I think, yeah, I know. I think it's more like 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:23.880 like if you if you take the full weight of 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:28.039 this this, yeah, and divided by the money spent. Yes, 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:30.680 I get it. So in theory, a lighter astronaut would 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:34.280 make it cheaper, but not really not really okay, um, 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:36.960 because I think they had those astronauts like way down 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:39.480 to the Graham exactly what they wanted in a way, 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:42.480 like they would probably be like, you need to excrete 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:45.640 because you're about to suit up, go excrete. You need 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:49.839 to p six ounces right now. I'd be a great 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:52.039 astronaut then because I can be on command. Can you 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:56.120 really almost always Okay, so I've got something for you 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:59.559 about six ounces. Um there. Have you seen the little 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:01.839 diagram him of a solo cup? You know the lines 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:06.039 on a solo cup. Yes, their measurements the bottom one 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:08.880 are they really is an ounce? The top one so 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:13.400 like liquor. Yeah, the the middle one five ounces for wine. 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.760 And then I'm not kidding the the the lowest top 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:24.600 band report that's that's twelve ounces for beer. I never 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:28.360 knew that that's ingenious, it is. I love little tidbits 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.280 like that, Like the amount of matches in a matchbook 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:33.080 is equal to the amount of cigarettes in a pack. 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:37.320 I didn't know that that makes sense. We should just 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:39.720 talk about those things all day instead of space elevators. No, 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:43.239 let's talk about space elevator. All right, let's talk about it, 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:46.920 um quickly, a space elevator and we'll get into the 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:50.880 specifics here. But what it basically is, it's a ribbon, 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:57.240 a carbon nano tube composite ribbon anchored to a platform offshore, yeah, 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:00.320 way out in the Pacific Ocean. And it's has a 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:05.760 counterweight way up in space six And they basically would 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:08.800 that would be the elevator shaft, and they would send 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:13.960 stuff crawling up and down this ribbon? Uh two outer space? Yes, 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:17.160 have you ever seen somebody like a piano mover lift 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:22.200 the piano? Sure, a second story apartment that except in space. Yeah, 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:24.760 that's pretty much it. I don't like the comparison to 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:26.480 the game of tether ball here. I thought it was 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:29.480 a terrible, terrible analogy, So let's just skip it because 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:31.360 it didn't make much sense to me. Yeah, I think you. 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:34.720 I think you said it like, basically, we're connecting a 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.960 line between a platform in the ocean and the satellite 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:40.199 up in space, and we're putting something on it that 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:42.719 can go up and down. Yeah, and the whole thing 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:45.880 of we should just stop right there. The cool thing 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:49.520 about this is to me is that every single part 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:54.440 of this is feasible right now to do, except for 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:56.800 the one thing that they need to do it, which 0:08:56.920 --> 0:09:01.000 are the carbon nanotubes that go sixty two thousand miles 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:04.640 into space. Yes, they're around right, but we can't make 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:08.760 them that long yet. Right. There's um that's I think 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:10.760 I think that's that's a really good point, Like we 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:13.440 all of this is just waiting. And I saw a 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:17.600 little video that Michio Kaku or cucku Um made about 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:21.079 this explaining it, and he was saying, like everything's been 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:24.480 surmounted now, like now it's all in the realm of 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:28.280 physical possibility. There's just a few more breakthroughs and it's 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:32.600 all carbon nanotubes, which are we've talked about graphine before, right, 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:37.760 strongest substance known demand or humankind. That Um, it's one 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:42.160 atom thick layer of carbon, incredibly strong. It's like a 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:45.160 hundred times stronger than steel at about one fifth of 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:48.600 the weight. And a carbon nanotube is a layer of 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:52.520 graphine rolled into a tube like it looks like chicken wire, 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:55.840 exactly like a soccer ball. Chicken wire. Yeah, it's like 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:57.840 like if you spread out a length of chicken wire 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:01.560 and then roll it up, Nana, it's yeah. And we 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:05.440 say soccer ball because the shape of the traditional soccer ball, 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:07.800 not these crazy ones are using these days. I don't 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:10.520 even recognize it as a soccer ball. Yeah, but the 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:14.120 old school soccer ball, that shape is the same, the 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:17.280 same shape as as these carbon atoms, which is the 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:20.560 key to it its strength. Um. I've been at I've 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:24.800 seen it described as um stiff but flexible like a 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:28.160 steel guitar string. So it moves, but it's still super 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:31.840 super strong and um, even though it's just a few 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:36.480 atoms across, they are ten million times as long as 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:40.040 they are wide. Once you get this thing going, so 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:43.400 like a guitar string. Yeah, well, because these are nanotubes, 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.320 so like they're diameters like a few billions of a meter, 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:50.000 I think one. Is that right? Yeah, because nano is 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:54.839 a billion a billion, yes, yeah, but so so it's 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:58.080 very thin, very thin. Um. That's the point. And ultimately 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:02.600 I saw that the sixty two a mile cable would 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:05.720 be it could be as thin as a piece of 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:09.880 seran wrap. Yeah, it would still be strong enough to 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:14.400 not snatch under its own weight sixty miles. Like, there's 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:19.760 no quality of material outside of this that wouldn't just 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:23.520 snap like a hair, like pulling one of your hairs 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:27.760 in in half. Agree, this one will. But the problem 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:34.120 is is you don't make carbon nanotubes. You grow them. Yeah. 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:37.000 There's a really cool nova video too on YouTube where 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:41.120 it shows a guy in the lab pulling a uh 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:47.840 braided forest of carbon nanotubes and he starts pulling it 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:50.800 and you see it all like coalescing together, and he 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.880 gets like ten ft away and then it finally snaps 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:56.800 and then it just it's like smaller than a human hair. 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:59.560 It just like floats away almost. Okay, so that's that's 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:02.200 longer then I've I've seen the record that I saw 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:06.600 was four centimeters in length. Yeah, well this was uh, 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:09.280 I don't think I think it was stretching. I don't 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:12.920 think it was the original. Okay, So they they the 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:16.839 carbon nanotubes grow and then after like, that's the world 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:21.440 record four centimeters, which is like a one point six inches, right, 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:25.240 that's short, and then it just stopped one of the 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:29.280 right exactly. One of the problems with them not being 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:32.440 able to figure out why it stops growing is that 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:34.960 scientists don't know why it grows in the first place, 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:38.080 Like they have no idea. They're just like, oh, this 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:41.079 happens when you when you do this, um. And they 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:43.679 figured out that there are some things like hydrogen gas 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:48.120 in certain amounts makes it grow longer. Um, if you 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:50.400 do a little too much hydrogen gas, it won't grow 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:53.240 at all. So that there's they're they're figuring this out, 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:55.360 but they still are really at a point where they're 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:57.800 not they don't understand carbon nanotubes at all. They were 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:03.040 only officially discovered in which is a blip in the 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:06.600 scientific community. But we're making headway. And like you said, 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:10.680 once the carbon nanotu technology is able to be made 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:13.920 into things that are maybe several meters long, or they 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:17.960 can figure out how to basically wrap it smaller pieces 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:20.960 together in like you know, how you insulate wires with 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:25.679 plastic something like that, without the the alloy coming away. 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:29.480 Then we'll be able to make this space ribbon ribbon 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:32.760 for the elevator space ribbon, which essentially is going to 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:35.160 be like a there. They would braid these things together 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:39.200 like a rope, correct, yes, which would still be tiny though. Yeah, 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:42.560 so it'll either be like you know, several meters in 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:45.920 length branded together or really short ones braided together. But 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:48.400 either way they're not just gonna make one continuous sixty 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:52.480 two there's sixty two mile strand yeah. The one thing 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:54.800 I didn't get though, if it's so small, like it 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:59.120 needs to be a certain size to have these lifters 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:02.040 attach to it, you know, like it can't be a 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:05.240 human hair, right like that, what what could you attach 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:09.480 to that? They have to gain traction with it? So yeah, there, there, 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:12.280 It couldn't It couldn't just be as thin as plastic wrap, 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:17.520 even though strengthwise it could be. So that's one of 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:19.400 the things they're working on, is bulking it up. I 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:22.760 guess so, because you have to put the lifter on it. 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:25.400 Like you're saying, so the lifts are all from now on, 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:28.160 everything like this all exists. We can make this today, 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:31.200 you and I can make it right now. Well, let's 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.240 get it into space first. What what the idea is 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:35.520 that they would spool the sing up. Once they've created it, 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:40.280 they would shoot it into space with some kind of spacecraft. Uh. 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:43.160 Once it's in space, they would start lowering it back 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:46.480 to the Earth um towards the platform out in the 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:49.760 middle of the sea. While it's still going out into space, right, 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:52.960 they'd start lowering the ribbons. Yeah, so it's continue, it's 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:55.120 still going in. It's going in two opposite directions. It 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:58.960 would be like some kid walking the dog. Yeah. Uh. 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:02.200 And eventually it it's lowered and there's a dude standing 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:05.920 on a platform saying all right, back it down. Then 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:09.600 he would take it and clip it onto a c platform, 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:11.760 although it would be much more complicated than I think 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:14.400 about that operations. So this platform is going to be 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:18.880 like four miles from any shipping or air lanes, which 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:24.200 is important in the Equatorial Pacific, and a sixty two 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:28.360 thousand mile long strand of rope. Even they could say 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:31.680 it's it's thick as like a cable, one of the 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:36.360 cables holding the Golden gate Bridge. Imagine catching that. I 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:40.560 mean it's obviously not, but still like there's somebody piloting 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:44.680 machine that like, and you I don't know how you 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:52.760 would move the counterweight around the spool so that how 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:55.440 are you going to get the threat? This is the 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:59.560 most difficult aspect of the whole program, if you ask me, 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.920 I think grabbing that that ribbon and connecting it. Although 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:04.800 they act like they've got that all figured out. They're like, 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:08.840 we had this nanotube that was this long. We're all 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:10.840 set to trust. Like they've got a guy out on 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:13.440 a platform just sitting around waiting waiting for this thing 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.240 to come down from space. So they so that guy 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:20.480 catches the ribbon, ties it off probably with a pretty 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:25.400 decent sailors not um, and then you attach the lifter 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:30.360 to it. Right, that's right, Um. The lifter is a 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:33.280 robotic thing. It basically it's it's sort of like a 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:36.920 train track it uses these traction shread rollers. Uh, and 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:42.520 it would clamp onto this ribbon and through something a 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:45.160 little more advanced than a gasoline engine. I think, what 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:49.280 are they using a free electron laser to create the 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:51.680 energy to do this? Basically, what they're doing is they're 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:55.000 gonna put solar panels but made of stuff that really 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:59.240 absorbs light from a laser right on the bottom or 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:01.560 on the top, probably on both sides, and then they're 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.479 just gonna shoot lasers up and down the ribbon and 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:08.520 then that laser just powers It's basically like directing sunlight 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:13.880 onto full of photovoltaic cells and then converting that to electricity. 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:17.119 Then it's just plain old mechanical energy. It's like a 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:22.000 little motor that would crawl at a hundred and eighteen 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:25.479 miles an hour. Mind you, it's not exactly a crawl 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:29.560 that it would shoot up this ribbon into space to 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:33.920 the final destination, which would be anything. I think that 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:36.479 first they talked about capturing an asteroid to serve as 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:40.679 as the which is just as the counterweight to um 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:43.960 what I think is smart which would potentially be a 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:46.439 satellite or the spacecraft that brought it out there to 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:49.800 begin with Yeah, just unfolding or reconfiguring or whatever, and 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:52.520 of a sudden bam, there's your counterweight. There's the other 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:55.320 end of the string, right dude, that's it. I mean, 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.639 after they get this going, they're saying it can basically 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:04.760 be a constant operational elevator to the sky, lifting as 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:07.359 much as thirteen tons of payload at a time in 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:13.320 some cases humans maybe eventually, Yeah, crazy. I guess the 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:16.240 whole point now would be to just shuttle stuff to 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:21.840 say this. The International Space Station UM supplies that kind 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:27.280 of thing, gruel food UM, or if you had some 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:31.679 sort of asteroid mining operation, you could take your daily 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:35.119 hall to the space elevator to be brought down. The 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:38.480 point is this thing could be used for trips to 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:42.920 UM lower Earth orbit every day, several times a day, 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:47.320 because I think lower Earth orbit is UM between five 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:53.480 and fift hundred miles, so that's like UM four to 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:57.120 twelve hours trip basically, and they're talking about going further 0:18:57.160 --> 0:19:00.440 than that, right, But Lower Earth orbit is where like 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:02.719 all of the all that's where all the action is 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:07.480 generally UM. The problem is is that's also where all 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.800 the space to bree is. Yeah, and I think I 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:12.760 don't think we mentioned what the best part about all 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:17.000 this is is that it would cost about the closest 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:19.040 system I've seen is about two hundred dollars a pound 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:21.879 to deliver stuff to outer space, and what was the 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:25.240 Space shuttle costs dollars a pound. So that's why they're 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:28.439 pursuing this is because it's much much more affordable. They 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:31.720 likened it to the Transcontinental Railroad back in the day, 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:36.600 linking space to Earth. Yeah, okay, so the problems Josh 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:41.720 avoiding um junk flying around in space Like it would 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:43.960 suck if you got this thing all looked up and 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:47.040 some asteroid came flying out of nowhere and snapped the 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:49.879 thing and half well, not just asteroids, apparently space debris 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:55.679 UM largely refers to junk man made jump and lower 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:58.840 Earth's orbit is allows you with it. Um. One, there 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:02.879 was a satellite, an old out of use satellite, collided 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:06.600 with a new in use satellite recently and blew it up, 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:10.760 and all of a sudden, two pieces became four thousand pieces. 0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:13.080 And that's nothing, that's a drop in the bucket. It 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:15.639 is so um. The problem is is like even a 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:19.720 small like one centimeter diameter piece is a threat to 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:24.240 the space elevator. Um so right now, nora D tracks 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:26.720 things as small as ten centimeters. Did you know that? 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:29.600 I didn't once I read this, but I was pretty 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:31.800 I was pretty shocked. But they're gonna have to start 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:34.359 tracking stuff down to one centimeter. So this is another 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:36.720 kind of challenge that I don't think people talk about, 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:40.800 is tracking space debris. Or they're also proposing that we 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:42.719 just go up there and get rid of it, like 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:45.440 pay contractors to go to space and bring these things 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:50.040 down and clean up exactly. That'd be a unique approach, right, 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:54.560 Um it's called active avoidance, and UM, it's pretty amazing 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:57.840 that you could actually, potentially, because this thing is tethered 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:00.560 to a c platform, move the c plat form to 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:03.320 dodge these things. But that would mean that there's like 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:06.400 some guy whose job it is to like, yeah, joystick it. Yeah, 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:11.080 that's crazy. It sounds very far fetched, but it's supposedly 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:16.640 not super far fetched. I mean, this company Liftport, they're 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:19.320 they're one of the private firms that are have been 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:23.240 I think they partnered with NASA for a while until NASA, 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:26.159 you know, they're funding has dried up to a large degree, 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:29.000 so they had to scrap things like partnering with Liftport, 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:33.440 but um Liftport as of now, I think I read 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:36.720 in two thousand eleven they have sort of scrapped or 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:39.920 not scrapped, but they put on the back burner the 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:43.399 space to Earth version and they're working on a lunar version. 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:45.560 Oh yeah, so they want to put one of these 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:49.880 on the Moon. Um, which can be done right now 0:21:50.400 --> 0:21:52.480 if they had the money. That makes sense to me. 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:55.359 Um not as much gravity, so they don't need the 0:21:55.359 --> 0:21:58.760 carbonano tubes. Yeah, they could use the stuff called zylon. 0:21:59.119 --> 0:22:02.879 It's a synthetic polymer. And apparently they could like do 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:05.560 this within the decade. Like everything's in place, it's just 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:08.800 a matter of doing it. So yeah, I thought about 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:11.800 having one that goes from the Earth to the Moon, 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:14.120 or one that goes from the Earth to Mars or 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:16.280 you know, and you just well and then from the 0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:19.960 Moon tomorrow. You know, you could connect them like station 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:21.880 one is here, then you have another one that goes there. 0:22:22.320 --> 0:22:24.840 And the ideas are going to build a bunch of these, right, 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:28.240 that's the idea, because if one goes down because of 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:31.320 some space to breathe, hey, no problem, We've got another 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:34.639 one that we've built even cheaper over here in this 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:37.520 part of the ocean. So that's the idea. What's awesome 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:41.359 is this is I mean, this is far reaching, it 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:47.040 sounds futuristic, it's actually pretty smart. Simple idea like where 0:22:47.040 --> 0:22:49.560 it's gonna build an elevator that goes to space, and 0:22:49.600 --> 0:22:51.919 it's actually kind of an old idea. There was a 0:22:52.080 --> 0:22:57.879 Russian UH scientists named Constantine Ciokowski who proposed this in 0:22:59.359 --> 0:23:03.280 heard about that and then um kind of went. I 0:23:03.320 --> 0:23:05.240 think everybody thought he was a crack pot for a while. 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:07.640 They thought da Vinci was too, though yeah, actually did 0:23:07.640 --> 0:23:10.720 they No, not da Vinci. They think he was a 0:23:10.760 --> 0:23:14.320 genius back then too, probably except for his flying machine. 0:23:14.359 --> 0:23:18.600 I think that's credibility. Um. But then Arthur Arthur C. 0:23:18.720 --> 0:23:22.360 Clark comes along and writes about this in UH Fountains 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:27.720