"What Floor Ya Gettin Off At?"

Want to go to space to have a picnic in a space park? Well, that’s definitely a foreseeable possibility, in our lifetime.

You may be asking yourself, “Really Trevor, you think that I can just enjoy the luxuries of space in my lifetime?” I think it’ll be the future’s Disney World. The technology is essentially there for us to create the impossible; we just need to improve it.

We can create a lifting mechanism that will take you to space easy, but the hardest part is anchoring it to the ground.  Well, scientists believe that carbon nanotubes may be the answer.  These have already been applied in everyday items that involve carbon fiber, but only on a small scale.

These nanotubes have been created with a length to width ratio of 132,000,000:1.   For a nanotube that is 11ft wide could reach the moon.

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2011/02/medium_space_elevatordiagram.jpg

They use a fullerene structure which was inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic designs in architecture.  For example, in a geodesic dome, the supports constantly experience compression and decompression which allows for the dome to stand on its own. There are limits, but they are so far beyond man’s needs that the domes are essentially limitless.

http://extremelongevity.net/wp-content/uploads/Fullerene-C60.png

Fullerene. It is the simplest and easiest geodesic dome in the world. Just 60 carbon atoms and boundless limits....?

However, carbon nanotubes may slowly be encountering these limits.  If we want to build a space elevator, these tubes will need to be improved.  We can make them in proper lengths, but they do not hold the tensile strength withstand the forces of being slung around the earth with weight on the end. These tubes already exhibit the greatest tensile strengths in the world, but they do not work well under compression because they will buckle. However, for my dream of the space elevator, it will always be under tension! So, the dream of the space elevator will take some innovation, but science is on its way.

And, these nanotubes are making their way into our lives.  They exhibit incredible thermal conductivity and are being deployed in the electrical circuits and wires now. They also absorb radar, so the military is looking to use it for stealth purposes.  Scientists have been make nanotube walls to destroy cancer.

 Nanotubes will change how the whole world works. This much we know.  I, however, would be happy with just a picnic in space.

Thanks to these sponsors

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_nanotube#Structural

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller