Born Reporter - 12/26/2006

[The_Fox]

I have no idea where she is or what she is doing, but I think Lain has a very promising career ahead of her in journalism.

- Jarylan "Welcome to the Willamete Parkview Mall..."

[Shurhaian]

I think that's Alice; Lain plays football.

Otherwise, point stands.

[GreatLimmick]

And who's that with Alice?

[E_voyager]

I don't know but Alice seems to have the deviant have press pass with intrude syndrome that Lois Lane seems to share half the reporters at the daily planet

[Micro_Fur]

Ahh, the press pass. . .is there an other such marvelous device that lets the bearer have nearly unlimited brown-nosing permission? I think naught. . .

Micro_fur - "When 2+2 equals 5 or less, it's time to question common sense"

[GreatLimmick]

But... 2+2 is less than 5.

[Cinni]

And there you are, questioning it. Works perfectly.

Although, now I think of it, it likely that the meaning is more along the lines of:

2 + 2 = 4

not

2 + 2 = (< 5)

It might be a call for attention to detail. 'Close Enough' shouldn't always be accepted.

But I could be way off.



Cinni

[Kesh]

Skyhook? Whoa.

[Aki_no_kaze]

um... wouldnt you kind of notice something like that from the boat ride there? Or, you know, the next town over?

[Allan_ecker]

I've given a lot of thought to this one; for the most part the thread is damn near invisible, except maybe for that elevator.

More on that in tuesday's comic.

[GreatLimmick]

The cable itself couldn't be too thick, I imagine, or else it would be in significantly greater danger of collapsing under its own weight. Just how far away can you be from something only a few feet (or possibly inches) across, regardless of its height, and still see it?

[Aki_no_kaze]

well, most space elevator concepts are actually anchored slightly above geo-sychronous orbit... since at that point the anchor wants to fly off into space, the only thing keeping it from doing so is the teather pulling down on it. This keeps the teather tight and straight without the worry of it swaying in the wind, or being strong enough to support its own weight.

so the weight of the teather isnt as important as its tensile strength, as it is being pulled up by the anchor at all times.


of course the problem with this concept is that if the teather were to break, and the elevator was above the break, it (and anyone inside) would fly off into interplanitary space and there would be nothig that could stop it (of course if you were below the break you would fall back to earth... either way it would be messy for everyone involved)

[Shurhaian]

I imagine such an elevator(as well as whatever's at the counterweight) would have enough RCS thrusters and fuel to at least get down into stable orbit. Emergency solid-fuel rockets would give enough kick to get to the right general area, and at that point, compressed-gas systems could do the final jockeying around.

Actually, "geosynchronous" orbit just means the point at which the speed of orbit, treated as a rotation about the primary's(Earth's) center, is exactly the same as what's necessary to counteract gravity. Something above that would need to push itself faster on a regular basis, so every run of the elevator would carry fuel; to get to a stable orbit, it just has to slow down a tad. It'd no longer be geosynch, but it wouldn't be careening off into deep space.

[GreatLimmick]

Would there be any problems with a skyhook that wasn't at the rotational equator?

[Shurhaian]

...Intriguing point. [snip-edit due to own stupidity] Presumably there's SOME way to make it work, though; geostationary orbits exist that aren't equatorial. Take the entire GPS system as an example writ large.

If there's an error in my (exceedingly brief, granted) physics, someone feel free to point it out.

[Alfador]

Easy counterweight: Have the cable extend exactly (or near enough) as far ABOVE geosynch as it does DOWN to the surface. The cable provides its own counterweight, and tidal forces keep things nicely taut away from the station.

This also has the advantage of a nice, built-in spaceship launch for potential interplanetary travel: Just have a ship coast down the outer line, accelerating at increasing rates until it reaches 1g at the end, and slips off with lots of free velocity away from the Earth. (Or rather, on a tangent--remember high school physics! ...or alternatively, for medieval students, remember how to use a sling in combat.)