Well, the industry pushed the standards, but it was the FCC that asked them to initially. It all comes down to bandwidth, and the sad fact that we just don't have enough to go around down at the low end of the spectrum (where signals carry well). Digital transmission will allow the FCC to phase out the current wide-band analog TV bands, and to re-use (i.e., sell) the bandwidth for things like fleet dispatch, which is always screaming for more spectrum.
While the ISM and similar bands (900MHz and 2.4 GHz home wireless) are great bands for their purposes, they don't tend to overcome terrain obstacles as well as lower frequencies (and no, this is not really a question of broadcast power). So it is natural for the FCC to want to make more effecient use of the spectrum by reclaiming wide analogue channels and replacing them with narrow digital channels, thus freeing spectrum for other uses. That's what we pay them for. That's their job.
The cable wouldn't be long enough. Sure, the endpoint would be geosych, but the weight of the cable BELOW the geosych point would suck it back to earth like a child slurping speghetti. You need a centripital reaction equal to the sum perceived "pull". So... you'll need to either nearly double the length of the cable, or provide a "ballast" mass outside the geosync line.
Since buckeytubes are mostly carbon, why not build the "factory" on a carbanacrous asteroid, start building cable, and ejecting waste materiels like a mass driver to get it to earth orbit. By the time you get here (30 years or so) you should have at least a start on enough cable built, and a nice rock to use as ballast.
Now if we could just get the factory to the asteroid belt.....
Slashdot Mirror
Well, the industry pushed the standards, but it was the FCC that asked them to initially. It all comes down to bandwidth, and the sad fact that we just don't have enough to go around down at the low end of the spectrum (where signals carry well). Digital transmission will allow the FCC to phase out the current wide-band analog TV bands, and to re-use (i.e., sell) the bandwidth for things like fleet dispatch, which is always screaming for more spectrum.
While the ISM and similar bands (900MHz and 2.4 GHz home wireless) are great bands for their purposes, they don't tend to overcome terrain obstacles as well as lower frequencies (and no, this is not really a question of broadcast power). So it is natural for the FCC to want to make more effecient use of the spectrum by reclaiming wide analogue channels and replacing them with narrow digital channels, thus freeing spectrum for other uses. That's what we pay them for. That's their job.
The cable wouldn't be long enough. Sure, the endpoint would be geosych, but the weight of the cable BELOW the geosych point would suck it back to earth like a child slurping speghetti. You need a centripital reaction equal to the sum perceived "pull". So... you'll need to either nearly double the length of the cable, or provide a "ballast" mass outside the geosync line. Since buckeytubes are mostly carbon, why not build the "factory" on a carbanacrous asteroid, start building cable, and ejecting waste materiels like a mass driver to get it to earth orbit. By the time you get here (30 years or so) you should have at least a start on enough cable built, and a nice rock to use as ballast. Now if we could just get the factory to the asteroid belt.....