Skyhook Robot Passes 1000 Foot Mark

JhohannaVH writes "MSNBC.com is running a story about yesterday's successful test of the Space Elevator!! Maybe it will become a reality after all." From the article: "This week's testing involved a 12-foot (4-meter) diameter balloon. Safety lines held by team members kept the balloon from floating away. The ribbon dangling from the balloon was made of composite fiberglass, with the robot lifter running up and down the tether ... During the day, the highest altitude reached by the balloon/ribbon/robot combination was 1,000 feet (305 meters). 'It gives us complete confidence that the mile goal is well within reach,' Laine said. Laine said that the Federal Aviation Administration has been very supportive and helpful in orchestrating their test flights. "

Comments

Re:62,000 miles?

[MichaelSmith]

62,000 miles?!?

Yes, why not? In theory you just need to go a short distance past Geosynchronous orbit, which is about half that, but only if you have a very heavy counterweight.

By increasing the distance they reduce the counterweight mass.

Re:SkyDeck 1, Space Elevator 0

[nmb3000]

Since when does a funny quote become informative? Don't you guys get the joke?

I believe what I said here still applies:

sheesh, it's funny people, Funny!

I think the reason some Funny posts get modded Insightful, Informative, Whatever is because starting sometime ago Funny mods no longer improve your karma. Thus to counteract, if a post already has a few Funny mods, a moderator might mod it Informative to boost the poster's karma a bit.

Makes some sense to me. After all, Funny comments in /. stories are most of the reason I read comments. A real knee-slapper deservers a bit of karma methinks :)

Makes some sense to me.

And me too :)