Mr. Clinton who was my Distributed Systems lecturer asked us to go google the term "sky elevator" and see what type of weird ideas that people has been able to cooked up with ... and for some particular reason I did, Hey he's a fun guy... it may sound absurd, but its theoratically posible ... ;) There are more but these are the ones which appeals the most ... matter of speaking.

An Excerpt from http://www.halfbakery.com/idea

With the advance of gps guided autonomous flying machine, we can look forward to a new alternative to public transportation. People have dreamed of space elevator for decades and we just not quiet there yet. But a sky elevator should be feasible with current technology.

First we will need a giant gps guided helium ballon that can stay stationary to ground with using propellor and wind speed monitor at an altitude of 3 to 5 mile. The ballon will drop powered cables to the ground to be hooked up with the flying capsule on the ground. The flying capsule shaped like a gyroplane with its own fuel, power system and flying system, but designed for long distance gliding with inflatble wings.

After reaching certain altitude, the cable will let go of the capsule and capsule's own flying system will take over, inflate its wings and automatically gliding its way to its preprogrammed destination most likely another skyelevator. With the gyroplane design, it should be able to land without a runway.

The skyelevator should be very energy efficient, and if flying can be done with only gps computer control, very easy to use as well. Only problem will be the bad weather and strong winds.

If space elevator indeed become a reality, sky elevator can be the easy connection point from the earth to space.

Another Excerpt from Space Elevator : Momentum Building

For one, what’s needed, advocates explain, is a super-tough ribbon that does an about face in thinking. It hangs from the ground and falls into the sky -- thanks to the Earth’s spin and centripetal force.

Anchored in space a ribbon 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) long would be made of carbon nanotubes. A "climber" would haul cargo, as well as passenger modules up and down the length of ribbon. Those are the basics. Of course, money is a key lubricant in this high-wire balancing act of technology.

Once operational a space elevator could ferry satellites, spaceships, and various structures into space using electric lifts clamped to the ribbon. Research points to a space elevator capable of lifting five-ton payloads every day to all Earth orbits, the Moon, Mars, Venus or the asteroids - in 15 years after formal go-ahead.

Another Excerpt from The Space Elevator Comes Closer To Reality

"Even though the challenges to bring the space elevator to reality are substantial, there are no physical or economic reasons why it can't be built in our lifetime." That's the matter-of-fact feeling of physicist, Bradley Edwards of Eureka Scientific in Berkeley, California, but carrying out heavy lifting design work in Seattle, Washington.

Edwards told SPACE.com that he's been wrapped up in space elevator work for some three years, supported by grants from NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. "I'm convinced that the space elevator is practical and doable. In 12 years, we could be launching tons of payload every three days, at just a little over a couple hundred dollars a pound," he said.

"In 15 years we could have a dozen cables running full steam putting 50 tons in space every day for even less, including upper middle class individuals wanting a joyride into space. Now I just need the $5 billion, Edwards added.

posted by earl-ku @ 11/04/2004 10:31:00 AM