Two Huge Futuristic Plans from Asia!

[_____V_____]

Japan To Skip Stairway, Build Elevator To Heaven

Ding! Next stop, stratosphere!


After pocket pets, robot dogs and an assortment of other crazy inventions, a collection of Japanese mad scientists have now decided that it's time to reach for the stars--literally. The idea is simple enough - build a 36,000 km elevator that goes right up to a stationary satellite in space.

Once completed, the cost of getting to space ought to be at least 100 times less than blasting away in a space shuttle, which will, in turn, make space accessible to more of us. "Just like travelling abroad, anyone will be able to ride the elevator into space," says Shuichi Ono, chairman of the Japan Space Elevator Association.

The best part about the elevator is that in doesn't bend current laws of physics - the only challenges facing the project are those of infrastructure. It'll need stronger cable than any ever used, structural integrity like we've never seen before, and materials that haven't been created yet. The cables will be made of carbon nanotube fibers, which are about 180 times as strong as steel, and can be made stronger with some research.

Japan will host a conference in November, where a concrete plan will be formed.

We're still waiting for someone to jump out and say that it's all a joke, but it doesn't seem likely.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle4799369.ece




Chinese Building Impossible Space Drive


Researchers in China have decided that they've found some value to a new space drive that's been rubbished by the scientific community, and that they're going to put in the dough to build it.

The drive, called the EmDrive (Electromagnetic Drive), is the work of Roger Shawyer, a British scientist. The drive supposedly works by converting electrical energy to thrust using microwaves. The concept's been criticized wholeheartedly, because it violates the law of conservation of momentum - if there's thrust, and nothing being thrust, something is scientifically wrong.

Peers have gone so far as to say, "His analysis is rubbish and his 'drive' impossible."

Shawyer, however, sticks by his research, and has now found supporters in the Chinese.

If they pull this off, they'll get a giant push forward in the space race, plenty of bragging rights, and likely some military superiority as well.

[bloody_ribcut]

when i read an elevator to heaven, i got a cartoonish picture in my head of a wobbling building..

[novakru]

OK.
But once you're in space-then what??
Are they going to build a giant space mall to amuse us?

Didn't they try this once?
I think I read a story somewhere in the bible about something similar

[Ferox13]

Good for her..

[Vodstok]

Originally Posted by novakru

OK.
But once you're in space-then what??
Are they going to build a giant space mall to amuse us?

Didn't they try this once?
I think I read a story somewhere in the bible about something similar

Not quite the tower of babel :)

I heard about this theory years ago, and I kept thinking, if the station is staionary, how does it stay up? Satellites stay up because they are flying around REALLY fast. Guess what, it uses centrifugal force. The same thing that makes you stick to the side of a Turkish Twist will keep it up in the air. Basically, the station is tied to the earth, and the spin of the earth holds it up, pretty much the same way the end of a rope can be parallel to the ground if you spin fast enough while holding it.


here is the scary part: if the "elevator" is severed, the station flings off into space at some ridiculous speed like 35,000 miles an hour....

[The Flayed One]

The space elevator has been talked about for quite sometime. It's existence or impending doom relies completely on the advancement of the field of nanotechnology. I've read several interesting debates on the subject on one of the forums I frequently read.