Fri, 19 Aug 2005
I want my space elevator ...
Every so often a sign that we are living in the 21st
century bites me on the nose:
Scientists have created the ultimate ribbon. A thousand times
thinner than a human hair and a few centimetres wide, the carbon
sheet is stronger than steel for its weight, and could open the
door to everything from artificial muscles to a space elevator
capable of sending astronauts and tourists into orbit.
The team of nanotechnology experts from the University of Texas
at Dallas and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organisation in Australia have developed a way to assemble a form
of carbon called "nanotubes" into flat sheets.
This is one technology that's going to develop rather faster than most people
expect -- because unlike some other cutting-edge technologies such as fusion power, there are
commercial uses for intermediate products. Very strong woven
carbon nanotube tapes that are not yet strong enough to support
a space elevator
are nevertheless still handy to have for building suspension bridges or aircraft
fuselages, and the stronger they get the more uses they have; so
the research into stronger and stronger versions will
proceed with positive feedback from the market until this
becomes possible.
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posted at: 15:07 | path: /space | permanent link to this entry
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