Nanotechnology Now

• About Us
  
  • Advertising
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Comments
  • Friends
  • Contact
• Nanotechnology
• News
  
  • Current News
  • Press Releases
  • Submit Press
  • Press kit
  • Interviews
• Columns
• Products
  
  • Our Products
  • Books
  • Featured Books
• Directories
  
  • Companies/Academic
  • Events
  • Glossary
  • Best Of
• Career Center
• Nano-Social Network
• Nano Consulting
• My Account

Home > News > Is space elevator the next ride to the final frontier?

August 25th, 2007

Is space elevator the next ride to the final frontier?

Abstract:
Nanotechnology's the key

To the extent that a space elevator is feasible at all is due to advances in the science of nanotechnology, especially carbon nanotubes. These are atomic-scale threads with a tensile strength greater than steel but with vastly less weight; when bound together, they become unimaginably strong.

The long spine of the proposed elevator would be 30 inches wide but only as thick as a sheet of paper. Wade Adams, a nanotech researcher at Rice University, said nano engineers have created threads 15 percent as strong as those needed for an elevator, and continue to make steady progress. Existing nanotube threads are already triple the strength of the Kevlar strands used in bulletproof vests.

Source:
postbulletin.com

Bookmark:

Related News Press

Interviews/Book Reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals

Heinrich Rohrer dies at 79; a father of nanotechnology: With IBM colleague Gerd Binnig, Rohrer invented the scanning tunneling microscope, which can show individual atoms on a surface and move them around May 23rd, 2013

IDTechEx launches online Market Intelligence Portal May 23rd, 2013

Whirlpools on the Nanoscale Could Multiply Magnetic Memory: At the Advanced Light Source, Berkeley Lab scientists join an international team to control spin orientation in magnetic nanodisks May 22nd, 2013

UofL scientists uncover how grapefruits provide a secret weapon in medical drug delivery May 22nd, 2013

Aerospace/Space

Moth-Inspired Nanostructures Take the Color Out of Thin Films May 17th, 2013

Lifeboat publishes its first book: The Lifeboat Foundation has published its first book, "The Human Race to the Future: What Could Happen -- and What to Do" May 14th, 2013

UC Santa Barbara History Professor's Book Elucidates, Celebrates ‘Visioneers' May 14th, 2013

Over 20 Exhibitors To Present At International Space Development Conference May 13th, 2013