Pesquisar este blog

Translate

sexta-feira, 16 de março de 2012

Space elevator to 36,000 kilometers


Space Elevator (The Daily Yomiuri) 
 In February, the Japanese newspaper “The Daily Yomiuri ” announced plans of a major construction company from Tokyo to build an elevator to a space station 36,000 kilometers above the earth - based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs), the nanomaterial with the highest strength known.
Since the discovery of CNTs, scientists have always dreamed of such an application. However, the available length of CNTs is still restricted to centimeters.
The Australian magazine “The Conversation ” explains that this major challenge could be solved by “tethering these tubes together to form ropes, very much like the method used to make wool yarn.”