Slashdot Mirror
Space Elevator Prizes Proposed
colonist writes "Space elevator proponents are planning competitions for space elevator technologies, similar to the Ansari X Prize. Elevator:2010 will organize annual competitions for climbers, ribbons and power-beaming systems. In other space elevator news, researcher Bradley C. Edwards recently left the Institute for Scientific Research to work at two companies on materials and technology. Also, the space elevator has caught the interest of Google's founders: 'At a space camp in Alabama last year, Brin talked about creating a space elevator to transport cargo up a special tether attached to earth. Also last year, Brin joined Page in proclaiming they should found a nanotech lab at Google.'"
the entire concept of a space elevator is ridiculous and has been debunked many MANY times.
Apart from the cost (several hundred billion) and the technical impossibility of putting it into place, there exists no material with even one hundredth the strength required to withstand adjustments that are needed due to the earth's tilt.
It's all good in theory, if somehow we could put one up and keep it static, but we can't. The physics just don't work that way.