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Report: Space Elevators Are Feasible

Daniel_Stuckey writes "It's the scourge of futurists everywhere: The space elevator can't seem to shake its image as something that's just ridiculous, laughed off as the stuff of sci-fi novels and overactive imaginations. But there are plenty of scientists who take the idea quite seriously, and they're trying to buck that perception. To that end, a diverse group of experts at the behest of the International Academy of Astronautics completed an impressively thorough study this month on whether building a space elevator is doable. Their resulting report, 'Space Elevators: An Assessment of the Technological Feasibility and the Way Forward,' found that, in a nutshell, such a contraption is both totally feasible and a really smart idea. And they laid out a 300-page roadmap detailing how to make it happen."

2 of 374 comments (clear)

  1. Arthur C. Clarke introduced me to space elevators by bigjarom · · Score: 5, Informative

    For anyone interested in the concept of the space elevator, The Fountains of Paradise (1979 Novel) by Arthur C. Clarke, is a must-read!
    It's a very well-written novel that focuses on many of the technical aspects of building a space elevator.

  2. Re:Arthur C. Clarke introduced me to space elevato by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Have you read it? Let me know if it's any good. To me, it just looks like a scam to get people's money.

    No money involved, they give it away for free if you know where to look:
    http://www.virginiaedition.com/media/spaceelevators.pdf

    Archived here:
    http://www8.zippyshare.com/v/72888832/file.html
    http://www.sendspace.com/file/16c8xj
    http://wikisend.com/download/118300/spaceelevators.pdf