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Inflatable Tower Could Climb To the Edge of Space
MonkeyClicker writes with mention of a proposal that could see an inflatable tower helping to carry people to the edge of space without the need for rocket propulsion. This would function in place of previous space elevator designs which featured a large cable and could be completed much faster, if proponents of the project are to be believed. "To stay upright and withstand winds, full-scale structures would require gyroscopes and active stabilization systems in each module. The team modeled a 15-kilometer tower made up of 100 modules, each one 150 meters tall and 230 meters in diameter, built from inflatable tubes 2 meters across. Quine estimates it would weigh about 800,000 tonnes when pressurized — around twice the weight of the world's largest supertanker."
yep -world's biggest bounce house
for the world's richest, most overgrown kids
-I'm just saying
I came up with lots of ideas like this in college...I also smoked a lot of weed in college.
n/t
Bot Assisted Blogging
I guess this means that other crap idea of the space elevator is dead? (Maybe if we built a huge wooden badger.)
They were trying to buld a zeppelin, but the printer did the plans in portrait format.
Could happen to anyone.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Who else would be at the forefront of inflatable technologies?
Didn't we do this already? I thought this is how we ended up with all the different languages.
The problem of how to build something 15km tall that can have some corporate fucking logo plastered all over it?
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
Can't we just mine helium from the sun?
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
... but can you imagine base jumping there?
"I love my job, but I hate talking to people like you" (Freddie Mercury)
Well, our fusion reactors will produce helium as waste! Its great, we can actually use that helium for something useful that isnt talking like the Disney squirrels.
she said...?
--I'm so big, my sig has its own sig.
-- See?
I just don't want to be the one to have to blow it up. I get dizzy after 5 balloons or so...
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
No, actually, it runs on hot air. We can have congress fill the whole structure in just 9 months (they don't work a whole year, you know)
wake up and hold your nose
No need to use helium - just use air and then take out all the heavy bits.
Or use a vacuum - that's even lighter than helium and far easier to manufacture by simply removing air from a container.
Isn't that what people said about Nikola Tesla?
+1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
If your tower remains inflated for more than four hours, seek the advise of a structural engineer immediately.
Happy now?
Failure to follow this advice may result in non-deterministic behavior.
Sa da te!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
it's the spacenumber bed.
"If still these truths be held to be
Self evident."
-Edna St. Vincent Millay
No, they said "He's clever with all the inventions, but don't lend him any money. Plus, he looks just like David Bowie."
You are welcome on my lawn.
What problem is the inflatable tower going to solve?
It's symbolic of the financial penis that's going to get rammed up all our asses after the US government is done with their orgy of spending and has wrecked everything.
Young Jack planted some beans today.
Hey, compared to an inflatable ladder, I'm putting my money on Jack and his beanstalk.
so you suggest we inflate it with vacuum? ...
you do know the reason why "hot air floats" do you? it's because it expands, and therefore has lower density. So in order to make a 'concrete balloon', your concrete sphere has to be elastic enough to expand when you heat it. concrete is not really that flexible.
or to translate this technobabble in something easier:
- "oh, like putting too much air in a balloon?"
- "indeed, but in this case the balloon is made of concrete"
Vacuum is lighter than helium. We could always fill them with vacuum. America has rich natural reserves of that stuff.
If your tower remains inflated for more than four hours, seek the advise of a structural engineer immediately.
Happy now?
No, that's just an inflatable tower in my pocket.
cancel that, earth radius is 6 thousand km. so not much gravity difference at 1/10th that. your right it's worthless for space elevator.
I'm just saying.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.