there is a better alterantive. combining the rockets and the space elevator, we get the sky hook. its basically like a arm ctaching space shuttles and flinging them into orbit to see a more detailed explanation, go watch Kurgezagt's vid on them link: ua-cam.com/video/dqwpQarrDwk/v-deo.html
@@nadegaming3136 One would hope so, but then again, look at how vulnerable planes and spacecraft are to relatively minor defects and consider just how much of an impact there would be from just a little extra mass per unit of length most of the way. I'd be very concerned about what happens when you need to repair the tether. Even the relatively small cables used on an elevator would cut through anybody in the vicinity if they snapped without that concrete box surrounding the shaft, and this would be much, much higher and without a protective case.
"For one thing, a construction accident could be catastrophic." *Flashbacks to Foundation TV series' Star Bridge terrorist attack.* Other alternatives to space elevators are either mass drivers, which are essentially half-cannons-half-landing pads for stuff to be shot to or catched from space. Or, space tethers, which would also require to be long and in space, but instead are rotating skyhooks that catch stuff to yeet it into space.
But how would that tether work? If that thing was in orbit, while spinning it would be extremely difficulft to grab objects and land them safely, wouldn‘t it?
I think we have to apply Murphy's Law to the space elevator idea. If it can fail, given enough time, it will. Foundation wasn't exactly a failure, but fall it still did.
@@Leo-zi1uf there's a kurzgesagt video on the idea, but basically you'd have to pretty much have specially designed aircrafts for such flights, but as long as you kept receiving and delivering stuff it would remain in orbit with little problem
I was always fascinated by the idea of a Space elevator, although if the whole ride that 8 days than I hope that the climber is more like a small space station rather than like an elevator cabinn
well you need to take into consideration that since there isn't a space ship to be managed, there are high chances of a one person crew going. and that sounds like heaven.
Not every project is possible. Just because past projects began as an idea, does not mean discussing it makes it possible. A tether 36,000 kilometers long? And a space elevator on the moon won't work the moon doesn't spin on its axis. Not in the conventional sense.
I know "centrifugal force" is a common thing to say, but every time I hear it said, my old physics teacher's voice pops into my head saying, "There's no such thing! Just call it inertia, because that's what it is!"
I'm sceptical about the safety. The ISS carries a multi-layered armour to protect against debris, how would the cable be protected? For reference, the geostationary counterweight would be at almost 100x the altitude of the ISS. How often would it have to dodge things, and can we even track the smallest pieces that could cause damage? And if a climber is supposed to be 95% cheaper than a rocket launch but has to travel along a cable under its own propulsion for 5 days, it seems that a lot could go wrong. The video also skipped about the gigantic problem of how to connect such a gargantuan cable in the first place. A quick wikipedia crosscheck gives some interesting plans (a slim 20 ton base cable which supports small construction climbers that would then expand the cable to over 700 tons, hopefully supporting 20 ton climbers at the end), but one has to wonder how many risks such plans contain. A 20 ton cable with a weight of only slightly above 1 gram per meter would certainly be vulnerable to a great many things.
As the anime series Gundam 00 pointed out, it's impossible for any such plan to come to fruition even if we have the means to manufacture the material needed right now. International geopolitics in its current state forbids it.
Yeah, these type of things really need to sacrifice lives before it gets perfected. No built megastructure made first time across history didn't cost lives. 🙂
Yes, and whenever you start making the tether spin, you could wind up with the tether noping out and wrapping itself around Earth, which would mean a lot of cleanup and a lot of lives lost. This is the thing that would cause the most casualties.
@@fantasyshadows3207 I think the problem is that you're thinking it'll be just like a normal elevator, there will be food and water there, a place to sleep and all other kind of stuff humans need
When you're on the carousel and you let the string go, the rock with the string will fly away. Now imagine you're in the space elevator and the cable snaps.
@@WelcometoVideoCity imagine this massively thick cable insanely long snapping back to earth like a whip, its unlikely it wont atomize at least a bunch of ancient structures like colosseum etc
@@SToXC_. That's a very strange example to bring up. The surface area of the colosseum is miniscule, as are all ancient structures when compared to the vast amounts of space on earth taken up by water and wilderness. It's absolutely possible that it could come down in a populated area but that would already be pretty unlucky. Most if not all of it would probably end up in the ocean.
The elevator won’t have enough force for the station to reach escape velocity but it still would probably doom anyone on the station and on the elevator.
And you know businesses will fight over who gets to build the first one! And charge (fleece?) rich people until they make more accommodations.. or until the rich get to go to wherever else they can -- just so the can say they were there...
@@ferrytannoto72 then they should avoid or prevent it with prediction using the moving platform but yeah I haven't watch the anime so I don't know how is the lift actually works there
@@ferrytannoto72 not to spoil. But I. 00, that does indeed happen But 00 also features three tethers, that join at a ring of solar rings. Meant to harvest power
It is possible that It can be built but it's practically impossible, taken in mind the workforce needed, future damage, sabotage, space debris and when we include geopolitics , ola uber incident bound to happen if you get my gist. But hope is always there. If you wanna see what happens when elevator falls try watching first episode of The foundation tv series.
biggest issue is the usury, its not like you can repair this cable, you'll need to replace it every now and then, or it may need multiple cables linked to the same structure for more safety, but still, looks too much sci fi for now, there s no way we can manufacture Giga tons of the highest quality possible nanotubes or smt to build this cable, assuming its strength is actually as sci fi as they say, because all they have is tiny amounts of it, the strenght never scales up linearly with the size of it, 1 layer of nanotube may look like a magic material, but a 10000 layers one isn't nowhere near 10k times stronger
@@SToXC_. but isnt that type of talk the same for every futuristic project? No one could ever imagine going to space before, now look at that. We can't imagine the stuff we will discovery along the way. So much things can happen, that maybe we don't even need to use actual cable, but something much more sci-fi like, magnetism or gravity manipulation.
There's probably no reason why the "cabin" couldn't carray enough safety systems in order to detach and land safely back on Earth during an emergency, perhaps with heat shields and parachutes. Does that make it seem more safe?
One thing was touched on in this that I think is a lot more important than people realize. If one of these megastructures were to be constructed, and for whatever reason have a structural failure that led to a severing of the cable, the resulting devastation would be massive. 36000 Km is almost the whole circumference of the earth, so any way in which this structure collapsed, it would be very likely to impact a heavily populated area of the earth, and a cable strong enough to support it would cause incredible damage to wherever it struck, and would take hundreds if not thousands to tens of thousands of lives. I'm not confident that we have the capacity with any known methods of engineering to safely build such a megastructure, and it should not be the endeavor of man to embrace progress at the risk of so many individuals.
As usual, this video never mentions "conservation of momentum". The Lift-Car at the equator would be travelling at 1670km/h towards the east. The cable would also be travelling at this speed at the ground but would be travelling at 11000km/h at the geosynchronous orbit altitude of 42164km from the earth's centre. This means that, as it climbs, the Lift-Car would pull the cable back more and more, pulling in the counterweight, which would adopt an ever-changing eliptical orbit until it crashes.
that would entirely depend on the weight of the lift and the counterweight though? if the tether is kept taught enough by the counterweight it wouldnt be pulled back
That's not how it works, Norman. Conservation of momentum applies to the entire cable and counterweight system. It's cute when flerfs gets confused by the variety of 4-digit numbers. The linear velocity will always differ at various heights along the cable, but the rational velocity remains the same. It's 15 degrees per hour.
I imagine that around a space elevator a whole industry would form: hotels, solar power stations, laboratories, 0G manufacturing, space ports, refueling stations, hydroponic farms, oxygen producing bacteria tanks or artificial photosynthesis... Eventually a whole city with thousands of inhabitants and all the related infrastructure would no doubt surround it. It would become crucial for anyone who intended to go to Mars, or the Moon, or Venus, or Jupyter... In fact, it might be a humble beginning to the world's first space ring. It would be the departure point for reusable rockets to refuel and refit, might even in time allow for rockets built in orbit that do not need to be adapted to the atmosphere and can instead be fully designed to efficiently capture and mine asteroids. Gold, platinium, titanium, niobium, all the wonders of space... Helium 3 for "easy" fusion... Not to mention colonization and such.
Ngl, a construction disaster involving the space elevator is scarier than any of the known construction disasters. Imagine seeing a line of meteor showers in the sky.
No, even with those carbon tubes, building vertically for thousands of kilometers just isn't possible, nevermind on a moving platform as a foundation. A space hook is far more likely to happen within our new millenia than a space elevator is, assuming we don't wipe ourselves off the map...
@@proximity037 Or one of the various options with active support. A static vertical space elevator requires the most extreme strength/weight ratio of the many alternatives. Orbital rings give essentially the same advantages and don't require near-perfect nanotubes.
It would. The Earth is only 40,000 km in circumference. if it were actually anchored to a mobile base as was suggested here, the drag of a 36,000 km cable succumbing to the spin of the Earth would easily cause it to wrap around.
If scientist's can ever think of a way to make a space elevator, than I'm sure they will figure out a way to make spaceships more affordable in that same time frame.
Maybe eve sooner. SpaceX's cost estimates for Starship are comparable to those estimated for space elevators, except it doesn't need carbon nanotubes to work. Rockets are more flexible in the orbits they can reach and locations they can launch from, and can have higher launch cadences. If Starship, or something like it (Relativity's Terran R for example) comes to fruition in the next decade or two, space elevators will probably be DOA. Orbital rings would still be promising, but realistically you need a reusable heavy lifter to build one in the first place, so they're more of a 'next step'.
When the 'load' mechanism leaves the launch pad, the counterweight has to be heavy enough to prevent the load from just pulling the cable out of the sky. As the 'load' approached the counterweight, it's weight would be added to the counterweight. The lighter the counterweight, the smaller the load that could be lifted. The heavier the counterweight, the stronger the cable must be to prevent the weight of the load plus the counterweight from tearing the cable from it's moorings.
That's an oversimplification. The tether's stress would vary at different altitude, forcing us to make the base absurdly thick. That thickness and the variation of thickness as you go up would make it impossible to have an elevator on it. There's tons of videos on UA-cam explaining why space elevators are currently impossible.
This has me super excited. Within my lifetime I could visit space and I'm just a normal dude. Especially with the rate at which technology is progressing, the timeline they've given could be even shorter than we can hope for. They should consider a large enough rope, something that we could build around and off of. Sorta like those little desk toys that hold themselves up with tension. If something is constantly pulling on the rope, as long as it has enough pull too balance out what forces are applied against it should just kinda cancel out? Or something I think.
It's easier to build down than up and you won't need to be that high. You just need something that can stay in orbit and stay at the same place as where you're planning to hook up or great timing.
I honestly think we cannot proceed as a civilization until we create fusion. This is when energy becomes so abundant it becomes free, a human right and the access to energy helps us create new materials. It seems like all of our next leaps and bounds depend on this energy leap frog we need to make.
Based on current predictions, fusion power is unlikely to be substantially cheaper that current sources. The fuel itself may be relatively abundant and incredibly energy dense, but the actual power plants are expected to be horrendously expensive to build and maintain. Much like it's cousin fission, amortization will dominate the price. The real future of cheap abundant energy is likely to be solar, wind, and batteries. The costs of those continue to decrease while installed capacity skyrockets. Fusion power seems destined to go the way of the hydrogen car. Long promised to be the future, but by the time it finally arrived something else had beaten it to the punch.
Everyone needs to get over this "free energy" delusion. Reactors/generating equipment and all associated transmission/distribution infrastructure needs to be constantly maintained and eventually replaced at the end of it's service life. People get paid to do that. People do not work for free. Perhaps we will one day have machines that provide all that we need, maintain themselves and generally do everything for us so that no-one needs to work in order to survive but even then nothing is free, we will pay for it with various restrictions on our lifestyle choices.
Does anyone else remember reading a book in like middle school that takes place in different points in history and one actually takes place in the future on a space elevator? This video reminds me of that book
Somebody needs to make a video about what would happen if the counterweight, somehow, got slowed down compared to the earth's rotation. Imagine the force at which the cable would wrap around the earth.
The materials required do not currently exist, this is still pipe dream, even more of one than fusion is now. Fusion is always close, space elevator is not.
I never thought it was possible to actually make one due to the strenght of the cable required and the dangers it faces like space debree. Maybe I was wrong
Honestly, it does seem like it's at the very edge of what's plausible with known material science, far too close to allow a sane safety margin. Maybe if something big changes on that front, but until then, not sure ^^"
An idea that can work is something from Gundam 00. By building it as a structure and having everything on the inside, it could have more of a frame to hold itself up. Though more materials would be needed for the frame and the protection of the internals, it's still a nice idea to have
Imagine what it would be like for a space elevator to collapse somehow, for it to snap. Imagine something connected to the ground so long, that snapping it would cause a lot of it to fly out into space instead of collapse, it would look like gravity flipped. And imagine the part of it that's mostly in Earth's gravity, imagine it collapsing and crushing things.
@@kidyomu89 No, at 2:15 they show geosynch orbit as a dotted line. About 90% is below it, although the counterweight would pull the cable out if the break is high enough for the center of mass to be outside orbit.
In some way its a good idea making a space elevator from earth to space however. The main problem here is the space debris which are orbiting earth constantly. Yeah we could make the base as said in the video move, but that doesn't entirely solve the problem... As said in the video there will be an anchor in geo-stationary orbit, now that will only act as a pivot if we start moving the base of the elevator in earth. Thus not protecting the cable even if we move the base as what would be days of movement in a direction (if the elevator base is a vessel in the sea) wouldn't be the same in space which the cable would of moved a few kilometres (possibly). Not just that but if the cable can't be stretched or retracted, then we will end up pulling the "anchor" back into earth's gravitational influence thus causing major problems such as seen in the video (the cable collapses and falls into earth). Now this is only my thought, correct me if I am wrong in some part. I'll be glad to listen others and learn from mistakes.
No, scientists are not actually building an elevator to space. Inventing materials that might theoretically be capable of being used in such a structure isn't even remotely the same as "actually building" it.
I think the biggest problem is going to be maintenance. If any part of said cable need to be repaired or replaced, how will it be done so that the entire structure won't collapse.
I personally think the sky hook is better because it isn't based on the planets surface and only needs to be 1000km long to work though there is still the risk of rocket launches fuel would only be needed to orbit meaning there is less weight and thus price to launch the same amount of materials plus sky hooks gain force when slowing down spacecrafts so the only needed power source is for the stabilisers on the ends the docking and release and maybe repair robots if needed further more they Can be built with modern tech so I hear but I'm no expert and there is likely many problems such as space debris I'm not knowleable in
No, they aren't. They're "planning" to build one, which means a bunch of eggheads are sitting around thinking of ways to do it. No material known can carry the weight of itself at that length, even carbon nanotubes. I'm surprised with you, Ted. This is the most clickbait title I've seen from you.
The orbital tether is all well and good...and should be built...but it would be far more practical to build a limited network of orbital rings, first. One extremely elliptical ring to take up to orbit from the ground, and then one low-orbit ring for a variety of uses. One more elliptical ring to get out to geosynchronous orbit, and finally a ring for the entirety of that orbit. . They're somewhat more complicated to build logistically, but from an engineering standpoint, they're actually considerably easier to build than a tether. Orbital rings can be mostly made from relatively conventional materials since they rely on active support rather than the strength of the materials they're made of. . They'd also provide a good framework to establish several tethers when the technology is feasible.
the pull device can also be a space station as well and if we have that. it will be the first step to making space fering ships for extra terrestrial travel as we build shipyards.
Excellent video! I just wanted to point out that most physicists consider the centrifugal force a fictitious force. I presume the narrator meant to say centripetal force as that is the force that is directed inwards towards the center of the circle, keeping the rock and the rope afloat.
Thank you! Searched through the comments to find someone mention this. And no, I don't believe he meant centripetal force/angular momentum, look at the part at 1:53, the line is straight directly out. He did, however refer to it as an "apparent force" so who knows.
Rotating skyhook is still a way more practical idea. Doesn't need to be anchored to the planet, doesn't need to be nearly as long, isn't affected by surface weather, and moves things between the stratosphere and high earth orbit more quickly because it rotates. We can already build shuttles that's could dock with such a skyhook, too. No need for fully space-capable rockets for this.
This somehow reminded me of the Book "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator" The elevator seems to be great idea...I wish it becomes a reality too.. Also, (saying this for like the millionth time) I love this narrator's voice!!!!!!
Instead of space elevators, we should make tethers. A rotating line attached to a counterweight that can swoop into the atmosphere and pick up airplanes then fling them into space. Energy can be equalized by dropping returning ships back into the atmosphere.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I heard that humans technologies are not yet able to detect very small space debris from destroyed satelites, and space is full of these, I don't want to ruin the party but it seems so dangerous and unpredictable.
Taking an 8 Day trip on an elevator into space sounds daunting if you travel the entire length of the tether. If you can just tow a shuttle into orbit it doesn't need to take the entire trip on the elevator; it just disconnects and makes the trip much faster.
Has anyone ever entertained the idea of null gravs? (Gravity nullifiers) it replicates the phenomena of how positive magnets repel each other, basically it uses earth's magnetic pull to propel itself
I'm afraid that the nullification of gravity under current known physics is simply impossible. You can use magnetic fields to levitate objects. In fact, that's how high speed rail works but gravity still pulls you down at 9.81 m/s^2.
This narrator has been doing this for like 10 years and he remains an absolute legend
He got a good gig! I'd love to have the same opportunity :)
His voice never gets old
@@Aviator27J after working for a large company for over 10 years I think it's more than a gig
right
Legends never die.
>Yes, scientists are actually building an elevator
No, they are not ACTUALLY building an elevator.
Good ol' youtube clickbait BS...
Seriously I was so annoyed, this is OLD news. I was excited to hear that they ACTUALLY started as the title claimed
Use common sense karry299
Yeah, but we are to blame too. We read that scientists are building... and didn't bat an eye.
@@benjfrog99 yup common sense.
If they can create a whole elevator to space it better have some sick waiting music
there is a better alterantive. combining the rockets and the space elevator, we get the sky hook. its basically like a arm ctaching space shuttles and flinging them into orbit
to see a more detailed explanation, go watch Kurgezagt's vid on them
link:
ua-cam.com/video/dqwpQarrDwk/v-deo.html
Just repeat this (ua-cam.com/video/xy_NKN75Jhw/v-deo.html) 3657 times 😂😂
Suitably spacey elevator muzak.
ua-cam.com/video/X1ESRMntsFo/v-deo.html
Haha probably like rocket elevator would be cool in terms off speed
Stairway to Heaven for 7 days
There also needs to be space escalators and space emergency fire exits to adhere to safety codes.
ermegency fire exit... that sounds like ejection in space
gives stairway to heaven a new meaning
Emergency fire escape - rickety steel stairs going down 36,000 km? XD
Don't you think it could bring you to space
Has to be manufactured with a safe space for anyone that needs to feel less threatened, too.
“The space elevator will be built about 50 years after everyone stops laughing”
- Arthur C. Clarke
Then destroyed by terrorists...
You're everywhere
@@Ninja_Cat777 I’m sure it would have pretty good protection
@@nadegaming3136 One would hope so, but then again, look at how vulnerable planes and spacecraft are to relatively minor defects and consider just how much of an impact there would be from just a little extra mass per unit of length most of the way. I'd be very concerned about what happens when you need to repair the tether. Even the relatively small cables used on an elevator would cut through anybody in the vicinity if they snapped without that concrete box surrounding the shaft, and this would be much, much higher and without a protective case.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade yeah, this is really complicated
"For one thing, a construction accident could be catastrophic."
*Flashbacks to Foundation TV series' Star Bridge terrorist attack.*
Other alternatives to space elevators are either mass drivers, which are essentially half-cannons-half-landing pads for stuff to be shot to or catched from space. Or, space tethers, which would also require to be long and in space, but instead are rotating skyhooks that catch stuff to yeet it into space.
But how would that tether work? If that thing was in orbit, while spinning it would be extremely difficulft to grab objects and land them safely, wouldn‘t it?
I think we have to apply Murphy's Law to the space elevator idea. If it can fail, given enough time, it will. Foundation wasn't exactly a failure, but fall it still did.
@@Leo-zi1uf there's a kurzgesagt video on the idea, but basically you'd have to pretty much have specially designed aircrafts for such flights, but as long as you kept receiving and delivering stuff it would remain in orbit with little problem
@@matheusGMN Thanks!
Ah, you watched Kurzgesagt, didn't you? The 'yeet' gave you away.
I was always fascinated by the idea of a Space elevator, although if the whole ride that 8 days than I hope that the climber is more like a small space station rather than like an elevator cabinn
More like a small Winnebago.
🤣
@@frojojo5717 Sorry what is that? Like a RV?
If its a cabin i may just die from claustrophobia
@@mike5869 Rockets aren't any more roomy so Soace isn't for you I'm afraid
Like the book starclimber?
an elevator to space would be an introverts worst nightmare
considering “small talk” fear
and stuck with them for 8 days
well you need to take into consideration that since there isn't a space ship to be managed, there are high chances of a one person crew going. and that sounds like heaven.
In 8 whole consecutive days people can go way beyond "small talk" terms.
“I’ll take the stairs”
No, there is no one building anything like a space elevator. Scientists are simply thinking about how one would go about building it. Huge difference!
Well said!
Which is, for every single serious project, how it begins.
Not every project is possible. Just because past projects began as an idea, does not mean discussing it makes it possible.
A tether 36,000 kilometers long? And a space elevator on the moon won't work the moon doesn't spin on its axis.
Not in the conventional sense.
How would you know what China and Japan are building lol. I work for a Japanese company and I can tell you they do NOT share secrets
Thank you
- "So which floor?"
- "Fly me to the moon"
I know "centrifugal force" is a common thing to say, but every time I hear it said, my old physics teacher's voice pops into my head saying, "There's no such thing! Just call it inertia, because that's what it is!"
I feel like those awkward elevator moments would be even worse
I'm sceptical about the safety. The ISS carries a multi-layered armour to protect against debris, how would the cable be protected? For reference, the geostationary counterweight would be at almost 100x the altitude of the ISS. How often would it have to dodge things, and can we even track the smallest pieces that could cause damage?
And if a climber is supposed to be 95% cheaper than a rocket launch but has to travel along a cable under its own propulsion for 5 days, it seems that a lot could go wrong.
The video also skipped about the gigantic problem of how to connect such a gargantuan cable in the first place. A quick wikipedia crosscheck gives some interesting plans (a slim 20 ton base cable which supports small construction climbers that would then expand the cable to over 700 tons, hopefully supporting 20 ton climbers at the end), but one has to wonder how many risks such plans contain. A 20 ton cable with a weight of only slightly above 1 gram per meter would certainly be vulnerable to a great many things.
As the anime series Gundam 00 pointed out, it's impossible for any such plan to come to fruition even if we have the means to manufacture the material needed right now. International geopolitics in its current state forbids it.
Yeah, these type of things really need to sacrifice lives before it gets perfected. No built megastructure made first time across history didn't cost lives. 🙂
Yes, and whenever you start making the tether spin, you could wind up with the tether noping out and wrapping itself around Earth, which would mean a lot of cleanup and a lot of lives lost. This is the thing that would cause the most casualties.
Yeah, this idea is crazy dangerous!
Also, what if an asteroid hits the pole? Will it cause the pole debris to crash into Earth’s orbit?
I like how TED just glossed over the whole '8 days in an elevator' thing.
They glossed it so hard that I didn't notice until you mentioned it.
8 days ain't much though
How about 1 year in a spaceship to get to mars? 8 days is nothing..
In an elevator… little people have been stuck in an elevator for beyond a week…
@@fantasyshadows3207 I think the problem is that you're thinking it'll be just like a normal elevator, there will be food and water there, a place to sleep and all other kind of stuff humans need
I love how Ted-Ed can teach us about, well, anything, in 5 minutes. This is one of the best channels ever. Thank you, Ted-Ed!
Considering the title itself is a click-bait lie, I don't share your optimism.
this is the best multi-contents channel on UA-cam of all time.
When you're on the carousel and you let the string go, the rock with the string will fly away. Now imagine you're in the space elevator and the cable snaps.
While the other half slaps back and destroys a path around the globe. Weeee!
@@WelcometoVideoCity imagine this massively thick cable insanely long snapping back to earth like a whip, its unlikely it wont atomize at least a bunch of ancient structures like colosseum etc
Ever read Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator? I know it is purely a child's fiction, but I quite loved the idea when I was young
@@SToXC_. That's a very strange example to bring up. The surface area of the colosseum is miniscule, as are all ancient structures when compared to the vast amounts of space on earth taken up by water and wilderness. It's absolutely possible that it could come down in a populated area but that would already be pretty unlucky. Most if not all of it would probably end up in the ocean.
The elevator won’t have enough force for the station to reach escape velocity but it still would probably doom anyone on the station and on the elevator.
Am I the only one who immediately thought of "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator" on seeing the video's title?
if something like this actually happens, then now we just need a space hotel
It could also act as the counterweight
And you know businesses will fight over who gets to build the first one! And charge (fleece?) rich people until they make more accommodations.. or until the rich get to go to wherever else they can -- just so the can say they were there...
I hope you have read Roald Dahl,... if you have then you have made my day
@@vyomrane1237 who me or Zookiekookie?
@@loreleiwebster9347 Zookiekookie, but if you have, then that is great as well.
What about the emergency exit leading to the stairs in case of a fire?
Nice question,
Answer - Doraemon Bamboo copter
I think you are screwed with emergency exit.
@@ABHAY-hu9kw Lmao
The space elevator was a big point in the Gundam OO anime.
The elevator in there acted like vertical trains.
Every time I see a video about space elevators, I always hope to see a Gundam 00 reference.
Yet it is said that the elevators are very fragile, not sure of it can handle getting hit by debris
@@ferrytannoto72 then they should avoid or prevent it with prediction using the moving platform but yeah I haven't watch the anime so I don't know how is the lift actually works there
@@Vejitatheouji or an ace combat 7 one
@@ferrytannoto72 not to spoil. But I. 00, that does indeed happen
But 00 also features three tethers, that join at a ring of solar rings. Meant to harvest power
This would be cool. The idea of being able to just… go to space without being an astronaut. Like at all, is exciting.
It is possible that It can be built but it's practically impossible, taken in mind the workforce needed, future damage, sabotage, space debris and when we include geopolitics , ola uber incident bound to happen if you get my gist. But hope is always there.
If you wanna see what happens when elevator falls try watching first episode of The foundation tv series.
biggest issue is the usury, its not like you can repair this cable, you'll need to replace it every now and then, or it may need multiple cables linked to the same structure for more safety, but still, looks too much sci fi for now, there s no way we can manufacture Giga tons of the highest quality possible nanotubes or smt to build this cable, assuming its strength is actually as sci fi as they say, because all they have is tiny amounts of it, the strenght never scales up linearly with the size of it, 1 layer of nanotube may look like a magic material, but a 10000 layers one isn't nowhere near 10k times stronger
@@SToXC_. We did go from steam engines to rocket science in 50 years span too though. So it's not too farfetched.
@@SToXC_. but isnt that type of talk the same for every futuristic project? No one could ever imagine going to space before, now look at that. We can't imagine the stuff we will discovery along the way. So much things can happen, that maybe we don't even need to use actual cable, but something much more sci-fi like, magnetism or gravity manipulation.
Whatever the video is, I always come to listen his soothing voice.
The thought of an Elevator on a relatively thin line into space makes me more anxious than sitting in a spaceship.
There's probably no reason why the "cabin" couldn't carray enough safety systems in order to detach and land safely back on Earth during an emergency, perhaps with heat shields and parachutes. Does that make it seem more safe?
its more like a train line but the direction is up
@@xXxSkyViperxXx That is literally just a possible description of an elevator XD
@@Mediados elevator is usually small tho, but this one could be really big and long like a train. it'll soon be like commuting to space
One thing was touched on in this that I think is a lot more important than people realize. If one of these megastructures were to be constructed, and for whatever reason have a structural failure that led to a severing of the cable, the resulting devastation would be massive. 36000 Km is almost the whole circumference of the earth, so any way in which this structure collapsed, it would be very likely to impact a heavily populated area of the earth, and a cable strong enough to support it would cause incredible damage to wherever it struck, and would take hundreds if not thousands to tens of thousands of lives. I'm not confident that we have the capacity with any known methods of engineering to safely build such a megastructure, and it should not be the endeavor of man to embrace progress at the risk of so many individuals.
As usual, this video never mentions "conservation of momentum". The Lift-Car at the equator would be travelling at 1670km/h towards the east. The cable would also be travelling at this speed at the ground but would be travelling at 11000km/h at the geosynchronous orbit altitude of 42164km from the earth's centre. This means that, as it climbs, the Lift-Car would pull the cable back more and more, pulling in the counterweight, which would adopt an ever-changing eliptical orbit until it crashes.
that would entirely depend on the weight of the lift and the counterweight though? if the tether is kept taught enough by the counterweight it wouldnt be pulled back
That's not how it works, Norman.
Conservation of momentum applies to the entire cable and counterweight system. It's cute when flerfs gets confused by the variety of 4-digit numbers. The linear velocity will always differ at various heights along the cable, but the rational velocity remains the same. It's 15 degrees per hour.
I imagine that around a space elevator a whole industry would form: hotels, solar power stations, laboratories, 0G manufacturing, space ports, refueling stations, hydroponic farms, oxygen producing bacteria tanks or artificial photosynthesis... Eventually a whole city with thousands of inhabitants and all the related infrastructure would no doubt surround it. It would become crucial for anyone who intended to go to Mars, or the Moon, or Venus, or Jupyter... In fact, it might be a humble beginning to the world's first space ring. It would be the departure point for reusable rockets to refuel and refit, might even in time allow for rockets built in orbit that do not need to be adapted to the atmosphere and can instead be fully designed to efficiently capture and mine asteroids. Gold, platinium, titanium, niobium, all the wonders of space... Helium 3 for "easy" fusion... Not to mention colonization and such.
That is easy to imagine.
The ability to build such an innovation is not quite within our ability, yet.
But, Maybe soon.
Ngl, a construction disaster involving the space elevator is scarier than any of the known construction disasters. Imagine seeing a line of meteor showers in the sky.
No, even with those carbon tubes, building vertically for thousands of kilometers just isn't possible, nevermind on a moving platform as a foundation. A space hook is far more likely to happen within our new millenia than a space elevator is, assuming we don't wipe ourselves off the map...
They shoud to build electromagnetic tower. Like gaus gun
@@proximity037 Or one of the various options with active support. A static vertical space elevator requires the most extreme strength/weight ratio of the many alternatives. Orbital rings give essentially the same advantages and don't require near-perfect nanotubes.
if it falls in a catastrophe, it will probably wrap around the entire planet lol
It would. The Earth is only 40,000 km in circumference. if it were actually anchored to a mobile base as was suggested here, the drag of a 36,000 km cable succumbing to the spin of the Earth would easily cause it to wrap around.
When you’re scared of flying in a rocket and you’re also scared of an elevator free fall..
Fortunately no-one is forcing you to go.
Yet.
If scientist's can ever think of a way to make a space elevator, than I'm sure they will figure out a way to make spaceships more affordable in that same time frame.
Maybe eve sooner. SpaceX's cost estimates for Starship are comparable to those estimated for space elevators, except it doesn't need carbon nanotubes to work.
Rockets are more flexible in the orbits they can reach and locations they can launch from, and can have higher launch cadences.
If Starship, or something like it (Relativity's Terran R for example) comes to fruition in the next decade or two, space elevators will probably be DOA.
Orbital rings would still be promising, but realistically you need a reusable heavy lifter to build one in the first place, so they're more of a 'next step'.
When the 'load' mechanism leaves the launch pad, the counterweight has to be heavy enough to prevent the load from just pulling the cable out of the sky. As the 'load' approached the counterweight, it's weight would be added to the counterweight. The lighter the counterweight, the smaller the load that could be lifted. The heavier the counterweight, the stronger the cable must be to prevent the weight of the load plus the counterweight from tearing the cable from it's moorings.
10 hour versions of elevator music now suddenly seem relatable
Another challenge to consider: imagine the elevator gets stuck half way through. Now scientists will need to create a space firefighter ladder.
Yet another reason to build the elevator shaft inside one of the cables, not run it (them?) On the outside.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
That's an oversimplification. The tether's stress would vary at different altitude, forcing us to make the base absurdly thick. That thickness and the variation of thickness as you go up would make it impossible to have an elevator on it. There's tons of videos on UA-cam explaining why space elevators are currently impossible.
@UA-cam_India there are similar problems but I suppose that's a plausible solution
Hmm… All we need are just a couple of magic beans! Love the story :)
I have some. Send me your credit card info and I'll get them right out to ya!
This has me super excited. Within my lifetime I could visit space and I'm just a normal dude. Especially with the rate at which technology is progressing, the timeline they've given could be even shorter than we can hope for. They should consider a large enough rope, something that we could build around and off of. Sorta like those little desk toys that hold themselves up with tension. If something is constantly pulling on the rope, as long as it has enough pull too balance out what forces are applied against it should just kinda cancel out? Or something I think.
a skyhook would make a lot more sense than an space elevater on earth.
It's easier to build down than up and you won't need to be that high. You just need something that can stay in orbit and stay at the same place as where you're planning to hook up or great timing.
Someone better not put any other buttons on that elevator besides up and down. I'm just imaging the elevator scene from Elf 😅
Hope I live long enough to see this.
I honestly think we cannot proceed as a civilization until we create fusion.
This is when energy becomes so abundant it becomes free, a human right and the access to energy helps us create new materials.
It seems like all of our next leaps and bounds depend on this energy leap frog we need to make.
Based on current predictions, fusion power is unlikely to be substantially cheaper that current sources. The fuel itself may be relatively abundant and incredibly energy dense, but the actual power plants are expected to be horrendously expensive to build and maintain. Much like it's cousin fission, amortization will dominate the price.
The real future of cheap abundant energy is likely to be solar, wind, and batteries. The costs of those continue to decrease while installed capacity skyrockets.
Fusion power seems destined to go the way of the hydrogen car. Long promised to be the future, but by the time it finally arrived something else had beaten it to the punch.
Everyone needs to get over this "free energy" delusion. Reactors/generating equipment and all associated transmission/distribution infrastructure needs to be constantly maintained and eventually replaced at the end of it's service life. People get paid to do that. People do not work for free.
Perhaps we will one day have machines that provide all that we need, maintain themselves and generally do everything for us so that no-one needs to work in order to survive but even then nothing is free, we will pay for it with various restrictions on our lifestyle choices.
This is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard of!
I thought a space elevator was supposed to cause near-death experience, so that one could duel the Pharaoh in the afterlife.
LOL
Does anyone else remember reading a book in like middle school that takes place in different points in history and one actually takes place in the future on a space elevator? This video reminds me of that book
Was it Starclimber by kenneth oppel? At least thats what I remembered
Somebody needs to make a video about what would happen if the counterweight, somehow, got slowed down compared to the earth's rotation. Imagine the force at which the cable would wrap around the earth.
That elevated smoothly.
The materials required do not currently exist, this is still pipe dream, even more of one than fusion is now. Fusion is always close, space elevator is not.
TedEd and melodysheep posting on the same day??? today is the BEST!
I never thought it was possible to actually make one due to the strenght of the cable required and the dangers it faces like space debree. Maybe I was wrong
Honestly, it does seem like it's at the very edge of what's plausible with known material science, far too close to allow a sane safety margin. Maybe if something big changes on that front, but until then, not sure ^^"
An idea that can work is something from Gundam 00. By building it as a structure and having everything on the inside, it could have more of a frame to hold itself up. Though more materials would be needed for the frame and the protection of the internals, it's still a nice idea to have
Imagine what it would be like for a space elevator to collapse somehow, for it to snap. Imagine something connected to the ground so long, that snapping it would cause a lot of it to fly out into space instead of collapse, it would look like gravity flipped. And imagine the part of it that's mostly in Earth's gravity, imagine it collapsing and crushing things.
Only the part of the cable that is past geosynchronous orbit would be pulled out, everything below that point would fall to Earth.
@@iunnox666 wouldn't that be most of it due to how long it is?
@@kidyomu89 No, at 2:15 they show geosynch orbit as a dotted line. About 90% is below it, although the counterweight would pull the cable out if the break is high enough for the center of mass to be outside orbit.
@@iunnox666 ah alright, damn not as fun
Develop magic beans Jack.
I thought that this would happen far in the future. If this works, it'll be awesome
Good idea of making elevators!
You forget about space debris
In some way its a good idea making a space elevator from earth to space however. The main problem here is the space debris which are orbiting earth constantly. Yeah we could make the base as said in the video move, but that doesn't entirely solve the problem... As said in the video there will be an anchor in geo-stationary orbit, now that will only act as a pivot if we start moving the base of the elevator in earth. Thus not protecting the cable even if we move the base as what would be days of movement in a direction (if the elevator base is a vessel in the sea) wouldn't be the same in space which the cable would of moved a few kilometres (possibly). Not just that but if the cable can't be stretched or retracted, then we will end up pulling the "anchor" back into earth's gravitational influence thus causing major problems such as seen in the video (the cable collapses and falls into earth).
Now this is only my thought, correct me if I am wrong in some part. I'll be glad to listen others and learn from mistakes.
No, scientists are not actually building an elevator to space.
Inventing materials that might theoretically be capable of being used in such a structure isn't even remotely the same as "actually building" it.
Yea but they have to click bait
I think the biggest problem is going to be maintenance. If any part of said cable need to be repaired or replaced, how will it be done so that the entire structure won't collapse.
I wouldn't say engineers are looking towards space elevators
the fact that a failure can damage surrounding countries is quite scary. not to mention a chance for the structure being hit by space debris.
Wouldn't the tether conduct electricity from the static electricity in the atmosphere? Could it not be harnessed?
best thing of this channel is the videos are not too short neither too much long it's like normal❣
Imagine an elevator takes 8 days to go from the ground floor to the top floor 😅
He says 8 days !!!!
@@Ninja_Cat777 oh yess 👍
@fel.lizard nicely said 👌 👏
The main thing riding up would be cargo - and that doesn't care about long rides. A container ship takes longer.
I loved the michio kakus reference in the start
I personally think the sky hook is better because it isn't based on the planets surface and only needs to be 1000km long to work though there is still the risk of rocket launches fuel would only be needed to orbit meaning there is less weight and thus price to launch the same amount of materials plus sky hooks gain force when slowing down spacecrafts so the only needed power source is for the stabilisers on the ends the docking and release and maybe repair robots if needed further more they Can be built with modern tech so I hear but I'm no expert and there is likely many problems such as space debris I'm not knowleable in
Again, our favourite narrator.
Elon’s plan to move humans to Mars be like
Sup checkmark
This is absolutely mind blowing
Imagine that falling down
They make scary movies about getting stuck in an elevator here on earth imagine getting stuck in an elevator in space
Para eu, que sou brasileiro os conteúdos do canal são bastante relevantes. E os vídeos me ajudam para ter uma melhor compreensão do inglês.
(English Translation)
For me, a Brazilian, the channel's contents are very relevant. And the videos help me to have a better understanding of english
Haven’t watched the video yet but the title IMMEDIATELY reminded me of the Jakob Project from Mega Man X8 and the orbital space elevator
This is the coolest thing ever.
Yooo, cant wait for some guy to dress up as Jun from halo and climb it!
Well, that is not happening
Wow the intro tone brings back memory when I discovered TedEd few years ago.❤️
No, they aren't. They're "planning" to build one, which means a bunch of eggheads are sitting around thinking of ways to do it. No material known can carry the weight of itself at that length, even carbon nanotubes.
I'm surprised with you, Ted. This is the most clickbait title I've seen from you.
Glad someone else was on that train of thought 😆
The orbital tether is all well and good...and should be built...but it would be far more practical to build a limited network of orbital rings, first. One extremely elliptical ring to take up to orbit from the ground, and then one low-orbit ring for a variety of uses. One more elliptical ring to get out to geosynchronous orbit, and finally a ring for the entirety of that orbit.
.
They're somewhat more complicated to build logistically, but from an engineering standpoint, they're actually considerably easier to build than a tether. Orbital rings can be mostly made from relatively conventional materials since they rely on active support rather than the strength of the materials they're made of.
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They'd also provide a good framework to establish several tethers when the technology is feasible.
No, scientists are not “actually building” a space elevator. TED: you’re better than this. No more clickbait please.
The next thing I expect would be a video or re-enactment of the Tower of Babel.
Lunacy..... waste of time resources and $$. Seriously though pfff keep dreaming! Why hasn't poverty been fixed? Insanity
Ok. Somebody is a huge fan of Seto Kaiba.
I love how these videos are all hidden lessons
Brilliant idea.
the pull device can also be a space station as well and if we have that. it will be the first step to making space fering ships for extra terrestrial travel as we build shipyards.
Excellent video! I just wanted to point out that most physicists consider the centrifugal force a fictitious force. I presume the narrator meant to say centripetal force as that is the force that is directed inwards towards the center of the circle, keeping the rock and the rope afloat.
Thank you! Searched through the comments to find someone mention this. And no, I don't believe he meant centripetal force/angular momentum, look at the part at 1:53, the line is straight directly out. He did, however refer to it as an "apparent force" so who knows.
Rotating skyhook is still a way more practical idea. Doesn't need to be anchored to the planet, doesn't need to be nearly as long, isn't affected by surface weather, and moves things between the stratosphere and high earth orbit more quickly because it rotates. We can already build shuttles that's could dock with such a skyhook, too. No need for fully space-capable rockets for this.
This somehow reminded me of the Book "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator"
The elevator seems to be great idea...I wish it becomes a reality too..
Also, (saying this for like the millionth time) I love this narrator's voice!!!!!!
Instead of space elevators, we should make tethers. A rotating line attached to a counterweight that can swoop into the atmosphere and pick up airplanes then fling them into space. Energy can be equalized by dropping returning ships back into the atmosphere.
That narration though 💖
they didn't talk about the risk of the cable being pulled from Earth. That could easily turn into a catapult
I've seem Gundam 00 enough times to tell you this is a...Fantastic idea that will help mankind in the conversations to come.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I heard that humans technologies are not yet able to detect very small space debris from destroyed satelites, and space is full of these, I don't want to ruin the party but it seems so dangerous and unpredictable.
Taking an 8 Day trip on an elevator into space sounds daunting if you travel the entire length of the tether. If you can just tow a shuttle into orbit it doesn't need to take the entire trip on the elevator; it just disconnects and makes the trip much faster.
The main thing riding up would be cargo - and that doesn't care about long rides. A container ship takes longer.
4:15 hexagons are the bestagons - and they'll take us to space
Has anyone ever entertained the idea of null gravs? (Gravity nullifiers) it replicates the phenomena of how positive magnets repel each other, basically it uses earth's magnetic pull to propel itself
I'm afraid that the nullification of gravity under current known physics is simply impossible. You can use magnetic fields to levitate objects. In fact, that's how high speed rail works but gravity still pulls you down at 9.81 m/s^2.
A null grav field would represent 60MJ/kg at sea level (as speed that's 11km/s)
Would the have to be tethered along the equator?
That voice! That nice voice give me an extra week of lifetime