Whether big or small. We all have that one thing from Scifi we wished were real. I’d love to see a cool underground city with like a SkyDome or a space hotel for instance.
Whether big or small. We all have that one thing from Scifi we wished were real. I’d love to see a cool underground city with like a SkyDome or a space hotel for instance.
From what I’ve seen about a space elevator, is that the we don’t have the means to do it without creating a massive material shortage in the world.
The most plausible idea I’ve seen is using the centrifugal force of the earth spinning to keep a mass at LEO. But without a futuristic material like long carbon nanotubes, we would have essentially a ten mile thick metal cord tapering to something a few feet thick, and you would be limited in payload to like a few hundred pounds.
Just curious, why do you think a ring would predate the elevator?
(Not OP) Because simply from a construction-point-of-view it’s achievable now. Unlike a space elevator, a ring could actually be built and used with today’s materials.
Maybe I’m just a pessimist, but I don’t see us launching enough space raw material from ground level to build it. Not trying to sound rude, I’ve just been in the logistics game(even helped put a small satellite into orbit) and I just don’t see the millions of tons of material needed being launched from the ground. Again, not trying to sound rude, this is just my observation from being “in the game”.
Mine the moon and build the elevator and/or ring from the top down.
As AAA said in a comment beside me it isn’t so much that I expect it would predate a space elevator. Simply that it is possible with current tech rather than still waiting on additional moderately likely breakthroughs like long chain carbon nanotube tether.
Also there are plenty of options to have the vast majority of the material be from space and not the surface since the core idea is a metal like copper being spun above orbital speed after being made into a full loop then used for the mag lev to keep at ground speed. There are absolutely a lot of astroids that might allow for that.