Space Elevator Prototype Climbs MIT Building

Space Elevator Prototype Climbs MIT Building 422

Posted by timothy on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @11:41PM from the no-place-for-lecter-to-hide dept.

Jackie O writes "According to an employee blog on the Liftport Group website, their prototype robot for the Space Elevator has just successfully climbed a 260-foot building (in a driving snowstorm, no less) at MIT. Now all they have to get it to do is climb over 60 thousand miles into space, carrying things. Good luck there." Update: 11/17 05:17 GMT by T : Liftport has posted some photos from the ascent, too. Thanks!

Space Elevator Prototype Climbs MIT Building

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superhero's (Score:3, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @11:43PM (#10838971)

I bet Spiderman is just a tad bit jealous...

Oh great, (Score:5, Funny)

by A Boy and His Blob ( 772370 ) writes: on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @11:43PM (#10838976)

Are we going to start measuring stuff in MIT building heights now?

The real purpose (Score:5, Funny)

by The_Rippa ( 181699 ) * writes: on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @11:44PM (#10838986)

I heard the real purpose of the test was to place a police car on the roof [mit.edu].

Re:When? (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @11:45PM (#10838997)

Like the mess on my desk?

Space Race (Score:1, Funny)

by Total Immortal ( 828356 ) writes: on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @11:46PM (#10838998)

Finaly! I never really believed that man walked on the moon, all a big consipiracy! but now i can sleep safe at night knowin that with this news we have at last won the space race! unluck reds!

Re:When? (Score:5, Funny)

by k4_pacific ( 736911 ) writes: <`moc.oohay' `ta' `cificap_4k'> on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @11:46PM (#10839004) Homepage Journal

Exactly, for example, scaling fish is dangerous work and rather nasty as well.

Climbing buildings? (Score:3, Funny)

by arose ( 644256 ) writes: on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @11:48PM (#10839025)

They'll need a tall building...

Re:Space Race (Score:2, Funny)

by quarx ( 786096 ) writes: on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @11:50PM (#10839038) Homepage

Now we can start again to discuss if man really set its foot on the moon.

Re:Optimism? (Score:2, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @11:54PM (#10839070)

Never underestimate a stubborn genius. Besides, its the journey that holds the juice... imagine what they'd accomplish even getting half way there.

Getting people stuck in an elevator 30,000 miles up? Could be quite an accomplishment, depending on the politi-- er, person.

how many smoots in a green building? (Score:4, Funny)

by johnpaul191 ( 240105 ) writes: on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @11:56PM (#10839084) Homepage

if those MIT kids can measure a bridge in Smoots (Smoot was a student), they can measure make the Green building a larger unit..... try and stop em....

Thats nice but... (Score:3, Funny)

by skyman8081 ( 681052 ) writes: <skyman8081@nOsPAM.gmail.com> on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @11:57PM (#10839089) Homepage

How tall is that... in Smoots?

WikiPedia entry on the Smoot, if you have no clue what I am talking about. [wikipedia.org]

Space elevator practicalities (Score:5, Funny)

by RealProgrammer ( 723725 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:00AM (#10839106) Homepage Journal
Every time this is mentioned, I get all kinds of Larry Niven RingWorld flashbacks for some reason.
As cool as this idea is, there are some problems (especially for the lower altitudes). Some of the problems are more serious than others:
- Wind shear: winds at various altitudes can differ widely. Both the cable and anything climbing it will be affected.
- Resonance: a cable will tend to vibrate; it will be necessary to dampen the vibration. Usually this is done with strategically placed weights. With an object climbing the cable, however, the resonance will be constantly changing.
- No Adspace: There will be no place to put banner ads, so the thing will never be profitable [slashdot.org].
- Environmentally Harmful: birds could run into it and die. Doesn't anyone consider birds?
Jobs (Score:0, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:00AM (#10839110)

Steve jobs invented the MIT building, and the space elevator.

Bah. (Score:3, Funny)

by Trejkaz ( 615352 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:02AM (#10839120) Homepage

/me hands Slashdot a lesson on Permalinks

Re:where's the link (Score:3, Funny)

by gantrep ( 627089 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:04AM (#10839132)

Just like the thing described....

For Pete's sake (Score:3, Funny)

by cuteseal ( 794590 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:05AM (#10839142) Homepage

For Pete's sake... I'm going to get real mad if the guys on the 19th floor keep misusing our R&D technology just to fetch their morning "coffee and donuts"...

Re:how many smoots in a green building? (Score:3, Funny)

by Fnkmaster ( 89084 ) * writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:08AM (#10839159)

Bah, the whole Smoots thing is just MIT's way of distracting your attention from the fact that the bridge immediately adjacent to their school is properly called the "Harvard Bridge".

Re:stop laughing - prototype - ... (Score:5, Funny)

by Lehk228 ( 705449 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:11AM (#10839181) Journal

i am pretty sure that a towering space elevator is at least as phallic as a rocket.

Way too long. (Score:5, Funny)

by wasted ( 94866 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:13AM (#10839192)

60000 miles = 316,800,000 feet.
316,800,000 feet / 29 feet per minute = 20.77 years

Re:Space elevator practicalities (Score:5, Funny)

by glwtta ( 532858 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:16AM (#10839203) Homepage

Environmentally Harmful: birds could run into it and die. Doesn't anyone consider birds?
Again with the birds! Birds will fly into just about anything over 5 feet tall - it's called "natural selection".

Re:Space elevator practicalities (Score:5, Funny)

by jerde ( 23294 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:20AM (#10839223) Journal

>Doesn't anyone consider birds?

I consider them to be evil feather-covered lizards. Does that count?

Re:Space Race (Score:2, Funny)

by WinPimp2K ( 301497 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:20AM (#10839224)

I never really believed that man walked on the moon
Ah, but now the US has to hurry up and get back to the moon so they can plant the evidence of the Apollo landings... Because if the Chinese get there first they will destroy the evidence of the Apollo landings. Doesn't thinking like that make your head hurt?

Re:Space elevator practicalities (Score:3, Funny)

by RealProgrammer ( 723725 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:20AM (#10839227) Homepage Journal

You have no heart. No heart at all.

Just a question from a Norwegian (Score:5, Funny)

by hyfe ( 641811 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:25AM (#10839244)

When article mentions driving snowstorm, this does actually mean a driving snowstorm with lots of snow and cold and wind and more snow and everybody trying to stay inside?
Or does it mean that it was fairly windy, snowing abit and it totalling a couple of centimeters on the ground and people who had watched to many catastroph-movies lately bandied about in Libraries burning books and being faintly surprised about how little warmth it produced?

Re:Optimism? (Score:2, Funny)

by SEWilco ( 27983 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:27AM (#10839253) Journal

imagine what they'd accomplish even getting half way there.
Or 1/1000th of the way there.
So make it a distributed project.
Have 1,000 little robots climbing 1,000 feet each.
That's a 1,000,000 foot climb.
Imagine how much they'd accomplish by doing that.
Um... oh, yeah:

:-)

No problem (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:36AM (#10839307)

They just need to put another 1218460.5384615384615384615384615 260 foot buildings on top.

Oh sure... (Score:2, Funny)

by Astadar ( 591470 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:36AM (#10839308)

they SEEM to have made a prototype, but have they considered how they're going to get the muzak to be audible once they get into space?

I don't think so.

Re:Space elevator practicalities (Score:5, Funny)

by cryptoluddite ( 658517 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:41AM (#10839337)
You forgot the most important problem:
- Terrorism: A space elevator is vulnerable to terrorism at every part of its length. A terrorist can target any section of the elevator, but we have to defend all of it. That's not a winning stragegy -- we have to take the fight to them.
So screw colonizing Mars, we need to occupy it now or the terrorists will win.
Re:Oh great, (Score:5, Funny)

by iamlucky13 ( 795185 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:06AM (#10839495)

Bah! You people are sad. Already 60 posts in and no one has taken his suggestion (plus the blog says 290 feet).

1 foot = 0.00344 MIT Green Buildings (MITGB's)

One Mile = 18.2 MITGB's

1 kilometer = 11.3 MITGB's

Space Shuttle orbit = 3,186 MITGB's

Space Elevator Tether Point = 1,092,400 MITGB's

Looks like they've got a little bit of scaling up to do.

Re:stop laughing - prototype - ... (Score:2, Funny)

by themaidtricks ( 823827 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:16AM (#10839541) Journal

Not _that_ phalllic - the thing will be paper thin and a meter wide. Unless you have odd notions of 'phallic', and if you do I pity your wife.

Which half of her?

Re:What's the point exactly? (Score:3, Funny)

by Capt'n Hector ( 650760 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:55AM (#10839677)

Yeah, but just wait until some athlete climbs the space elevator... imagine: a contraption similar to those hand driven railway cars attached to the ribbon. The dude (or gal!) stops at 10,000 feet for Oxygen. Then again for a pressure suit and finally a space suit. Sure, it may take a while, but it's totally possible!

Re:The real purpose (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:56AM (#10839681)

Next stage is to have it climb the women's residence building with a live video feed. ("To boldly go where no male geek student has gone before!")

Re:Space elevator practicalities (Score:2, Funny)

by AndroidCat ( 229562 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @02:04AM (#10839724) Homepage

If it's a tall illuminated tower [torontohumanesociety.com], it's not very natural. Maybe we could leave the lights off and select for smarter airplanes?

Re:What would tower look like? (Score:3, Funny)

by jusdisgi ( 617863 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @02:29AM (#10839855)

Could one see the top? Or would it "fade" into the sky?

Yes, absolutely...you'll be able to see the other end of the 1-2m-wide, 100,000km long object. Trust me.

Re:Space elevator practicalities (Score:3, Funny)

by Jeremi ( 14640 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @03:38AM (#10840079) Homepage

Yeah yeah, every space elevator story brings up the same old objections... they are all resolvable. The only really intractable problem will be convincing the religious right that this is not another "Tower of Babel" and therefore not sinful/doomed/evil/etc.

(I wish I was purely kidding!)

Re:stop laughing - prototype - ... (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @04:34AM (#10840244)

"Look up there! What is that? It looks like a big"......."Johnson, What's that on the radar?, Sir, it appears to be a long"......"Dick!" "Yes Mr President?" "When are you gonna take me to ride that space elevator? I can't wait! Too bad that Star Wars thing was discontinuisimed. I was goin' to kick Darth Vader's ass!

Re:Oh great, (Score:3, Funny)

by Carthag ( 643047 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @05:05AM (#10840324) Homepage

So,

Space Elevator Tether Point = 1.04179382 MiMITGBs (Mebi MIT Green Building).

I'd say that's close enough. Wait, what's that coming flaming out of the sky? ARRRrrghhhh

Imagine the robot of the future... (Score:3, Funny)

by sconeu ( 64226 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @08:10AM (#10840773) Homepage Journal

100 years from now at the old robots home...

You robots today have it so easy!

Why, back in the day... I had to climb a 260 foot building! Straight Up! In a driving snowstorm!

Re:Space elevator practicalities (Score:2, Funny)

by feronti ( 413011 ) writes: <gsymons&gsconsulting,biz> on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @09:32AM (#10841249)

Except for all the seagulls around the spaceport.

Re:earth to the sun? (Score:2, Funny)

by rednip ( 186217 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @10:18AM (#10841643) Journal

Then you would have to deal with those pesky inner planets. May I suggest the Uranium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator.

Re:Good technical summary (Score:3, Funny)

by CreatureComfort ( 741652 ) * writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @11:03AM (#10841985)

I don't even have the heart to calculate 1x; the cable would weigh as much as a moon.

So you mean that we would really be saying, "That's no moon it's a space station"?

Re:how many smoots in a green building? (Score:3, Funny)

by mcmonkey ( 96054 ) writes: on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @11:23AM (#10842149) Homepage

lol. Everyone knows CalTech is a tiny little division of Harvey Mudd.

There may be more comments in this discussion. Without JavaScript enabled, you might want to turn on Classic Discussion System in your preferences instead.

superhero's (Score:3, Funny)

Oh great, (Score:5, Funny)

The real purpose (Score:5, Funny)

Re:When? (Score:1, Funny)

Space Race (Score:1, Funny)

Re:When? (Score:5, Funny)

Climbing buildings? (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Space Race (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Optimism? (Score:2, Funny)

how many smoots in a green building? (Score:4, Funny)

Thats nice but... (Score:3, Funny)

Space elevator practicalities (Score:5, Funny)

Jobs (Score:0, Funny)

Bah. (Score:3, Funny)

Re:where's the link (Score:3, Funny)

For Pete's sake (Score:3, Funny)

Re:how many smoots in a green building? (Score:3, Funny)

Re:stop laughing - prototype - ... (Score:5, Funny)

Way too long. (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Space elevator practicalities (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Space elevator practicalities (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Space Race (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Space elevator practicalities (Score:3, Funny)

Just a question from a Norwegian (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Optimism? (Score:2, Funny)

No problem (Score:1, Funny)

Oh sure... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Space elevator practicalities (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Oh great, (Score:5, Funny)

Re:stop laughing - prototype - ... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:What's the point exactly? (Score:3, Funny)

Re:The real purpose (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Space elevator practicalities (Score:2, Funny)

Re:What would tower look like? (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Space elevator practicalities (Score:3, Funny)

Re:stop laughing - prototype - ... (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Oh great, (Score:3, Funny)

Imagine the robot of the future... (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Space elevator practicalities (Score:2, Funny)

Re:earth to the sun? (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Good technical summary (Score:3, Funny)

Re:how many smoots in a green building? (Score:3, Funny)

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