Space elevator. Dream, hoax or reality?

change of subject: If we send so many missions to outerspace that we do not retrieve then are we putting man made meteors in outerspace? we

The intuitive mind

Larry,

I recently finished reading "The Space Elevator" that is put out by HiLift Systems in Seattle here. I have to say that they have satisfied my scepticism on all the major points that I had with the concept. Of course, the most important design element still does not exist in the quantity and form to build it. I still see a complementary role between the elevator and the Orion concept though. When the cable is established we can construct Orion's in orbit or on the Moon and not have to worry about fallout at all. To move people around the solar system in a decent amount of time still takes more juice than just a cable. We might even tolerate just one Orion on Earth to lift the initial cable construction platform, this would speed the construction schedule and give us more practical knowledge about Orion too.

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Larry,

I recently finished reading "The Space Elevator" that is put out by HiLift Systems in Seattle here. I have to say that they have satisfied my scepticism on all the major points that I had with the concept. Of course, the most important design element still does not exist in the quantity and form to build it.
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Yeah. It is a bit frustrating to see something like this with such enourous potential, and not have it here, now. I hope it is not another "hot fusion fiasco".

Regards,
LB

No sooner did I post my last message that I read about the successful testing of a Mini-Mag Orion concept here at the University of Washington. They were using very small amounts of fissile material pinched magnetically. It was stated in the article I read that the process was about 30 times the efficiency of the Space Shuttle.

Hello Jeremy,

I spent some time looking at this, and I'm impressed. I had wondered if something like this external ignition concept could work, but I envisioned using a dense beam of neutrons to force a subcritical mass over the edge. (I worked at a Neuton Generator Facility in college, and this was where I came up with the idea.)

Have you seen anything that talks about a ground launch scenario for this type of rocket? Looks to me like this is still going to be a no-no, for technical as well as political reasons. That magnetic rocket nozzle could play hell with power and communications systems, and there is still some bad stuff in the exhaust.

But it greatly reduces the fisionable-material-waste problem of the original Orion concept. And I suspect that it can do even better after more development.

I saw one Website that put its propulsion efficiency gain at 50X the shuttle.

Regards,
LB

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Have you seen anything that talks about a ground launch scenario for this type of rocket? Looks to me like this is still going to be a no-no, for technical as well as political reasons. That magnetic rocket nozzle could play hell with power and communications systems, and there is still some bad stuff in the exhaust.
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At the moment I think it is just proof of concept. I think they anticipate many more years of engineering. I haven't seen any plans for a ground launch, I think they are probably looking more at launch from orbit. It would be interesting to get some data on byproducts, perhaps this concept is "clean" enough to be acceptable in an ocean launch.