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Space Elevator Gets FAA Clearance

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the hot-off-the-high-wire dept.

lonesome phreak writes "Techzonez has a short piece about the recent FAA waiver received by the LiftPort Group allowing them to conduct preliminary tests or their high altitude robotic lifters. The lifters are early prototypes of the technology that the company is developing for use in its commercial space elevator to ferry cargo back and forth into space."

8 of 546 comments (clear)

  1. Why bother with the FAA? by JediLow · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Wouldn't it be best to launch from somewhere outside the United States - say from the equator? It just makes more sense to me if they used something like Sea Launch.

    1. Re:Why bother with the FAA? by qbwiz · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If you're a US citizen/company, you still need FAA approval, no matter where in the world you're launching from. No, I don't know why.

      --
      Ewige Blumenkraft.
  2. Another sci-fi idea coming true? by aktzin · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Maybe Sir Arthur will live to see parts of "The fountains of paradise" coming true.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountains_of_Paradise

    --
    Quantum mechanics: the dreams that stuff is made of.
  3. Tower of Babel by 88NoSoup4U88 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    When I read about those space elevators, I somehow always have to think about the Tower of Babel (and I'm not even religious) :

    From Gen 11:1-9

    1. Now the entire earth was of one language and uniform words.
    2. And it came to pass when they traveled from the east, that they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.
    3. And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly"; so the bricks were to them for stones, and the clay was to them for mortar.
    4. And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered upon the face of the entire earth."
    5. And the Lord descended to see the city and the tower that the sons of man had built.
    6. And the Lord said, "Lo! [they are] one people, and they all have one language, and this is what they have commenced to do. Now, will it not be withheld from them, all that they have planned to do?
    7. Come, let us descend and confuse their language, so that one will not understand the language of his companion."
    8. And the Lord scattered them from there upon the face of the entire earth, and they ceased building the city.
    9. Therefore, He named it Babel, for there the Lord confused the language of the entire earth, and from there the Lord scattered them upon the face of the entire earth.

    So let's hope Liftport Group has their translators ready ;)

    1. Re:Tower of Babel by aussie_a · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Son of a bitch! What sort of asshole would do something that like? "Oh look, there's some people acting peacefully in a joint operation. Well I better fix their little red wagon! Haha! They'll surely worship me after this."

      If there is a Christian god, he is a DICK! The only person whose more of a dick then him, is superman.

  4. Re:Simple tests, not actual elevator by QuantumG · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Optimally from a technical point of view. Definitely not from a political point of view.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  5. Terrorism? maybe - Space junk? hell yes by calidoscope · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The biggest problems are keeping it together, and keeping it protected from harm, like accidently hitting it in a plane, or lightning strikes. It could become a terrorist target.

    What just about everybody forgets about the spece elevator is that every orbit lower than geosynchronous will eventually intersect the elevator (assuming the elevator is anchored on the equator). A particle too small to track from earth can still have quite an impact.

    One possible solution would be a much better tracking system combined with some method for deflecting/destroying objects that come too close.

    --
    A Shadeless room is a brighter room.
  6. what about mile high cities? regulations prevent.. by plasmacutter · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Current regulations (faa i think) prevent mile high cities.

    Already there are conglomerates in tokyo with plans and long term roadmaps laid out toward the construction of self contained mile high towers.. (one shaped like nested bowls actually has 7 or so large open air parks contained within.

    The US will never have one as long as these regulations continue to pose even a slight threat to what is already a daunting task in both engineering and financing.

    Truth be told.. i want to live in one of these towers before i'm middle aged, so get moving with the restriction removal!

    --
    VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!