Sir Arthur Speaks

rw2 wrote to us with an interview with Clarke in the NY Times. Login, of course, is required, but the interview is worth reading. Talks about space elevators, Kubrick & 2001 amongst other interesting subjects.

Comments

Space Elevator materials.

[Tau Zero]

You wouldn't be using Buckyballs, you'd be using Buckytubes. A Buckyball is an interesting molecule, but it's a ball; not very useful for making a cable. A Buckytube is made along the same principles of connected triangles of carbon, but there's a large section between the two ends which is like a plane of graphite wrapped around and spliced to itself, forming a pipe. Now THAT can make a cable.

The problem with a geosynchronous skyhook is that if it breaks, there's a hell of a lot of stuff that's coming down, hard. Fortunately, you don't have to use a skyhook for that. "Space fountains", Lofstrom loops, Jacobs Ladders and other ways of exploiting kinetic momentum could build structures that wouldn't be so tall that they'd span an ocean if they failed; if they were all sited on Eastern shores with nothing but open water to the dawnward, breaking them would only make some waves (ahem).
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